Vendors, council lock horns

EMOTIONS ran high in Chitungwiza on Monday as irate vendors turned on council workers who had destroyed their market stalls as they repaired a road in Zengeza 2.

Chitungwiza Municipality is rehabilitating roads in the town under a programme that is being bankrolled by the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara).

Vendors were, on Monday, surprised to find that their stalls had been razed by graders.

“This time council has gone too far. How can they just come here and destroy our tables without consulting us? We depend on vending for our livelihood and look at how they have destroyed even the zinc sheets,” fumed one vendor.

“Our tables were not blocking any drainages and the confusing thing is that they actually started closing the drain after about two hours, yet they are saying they want to clear them.

“There is no logic in this at all,” said another disgruntled vendor.

The vendors teamed up and called Zanu-PF vice chairperson for Harare Province Mr Robert Kahanana to intervene.

“I am shocked by the way this council operates. There was no notice given to the vendors, they could have complied. They never notified even the leadership of this area. It appears like there is a hidden agenda.

“We appreciate the work they are doing on the roads now, but that does not give them a right to act unethically like that,” he said.

Chitungwiza public relations officer Mr Lovemore Meya, however, apologised for the inconvenience caused.

“I was not informed about that. Even the person supervising the project was not aware. But we are going to investigate who gave permission to these guys to clear all the sheds used by vendors.

“We sincerely apologise to all the vendors and affected parties for what happened,” he said.