Sadc Summit invokes bitter memories for Mutare traders
By Elizabeth Kucherera
For Tecla Mhunga (41), a small enterprises business dealer who operate in Sakubva, Mutare, the just-ended Sadc Summit brings bitter memories.
She was one of the community members who was at press conference held in Mutare yesterday. The press conference was organized by Zimbabwe Union of Journalists to discuss the impact of SADC summit on local business.
Narrating the scary ordeal which sounded like a script from a horror movie which happened a week before SADC summit, Mrs Mhunga believes that her groceries and electrical gadgets escaped from the jaws of damage by the grace of God.
“Mutare City Council workers silently arrived at my wooden tuckshop and used blog sticks, machetes and hammers to destroy it .
“They did not even consider my electrical gadgets and also my groceries which were inside my tuckshop, said Mrs Mhunga.
The area she operates from in Sakubva has been lucrative for both illegal and registered business dealers such that bringing sanity to the area will be a hard slog given the bad state of the country’s economy.
Another trader, who onlybsaid her name was Tecla, said: “Although I am an illegal vendor in the streett, my tuckshop was vandalized without prior warning and some of my groceries were damaged.
“The responsible authorities were supposed to consider human rights for us vendors since we are the bread winners for our families,” she said.
The president for Mutare Informal Traders Association (MITA) Mr Kariparire highlighted how the event brought distress to many small businesses dealers in Manicaland.
“We were affected economically since there was demolition of tuckshops where most of the people earn a living. Many small businesses owners who operated from informal structures were left without a place to trade from, effectively cutting off their income during this crucial period.
“The situation was worsened by the curfew imposed during the summit for security reasons. Traders who travel long distance for their businesses found themselves unable to do their business as travel restrictions were enforced,” said Mr Kariparire .
Attendees for the press conference were various media houses including Manica Post, New Ziana, Wasu post, Newsday and the Observer.
The director for United Mutare Residents and Ratepayers Association Mr Edson Dube and Mr Passmore Nyakureba from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human rights also attended.
