Mutare councils to descend on illegal vendors today

The two Mutare local authorities, Mutare City Council and Mutare Rural District Council (RDC) are descending on their respective streets starting tomorrow to get rid of illegal vendors.

This follows a directive by the Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Daniel Garwe to clean all cities and rid them of vendors and other activities taking place at undesignated places.

Targeted will be vending from undesignated sites, unlicensed hawking, illegal car washes, food courts and tuck-shops operating from undesignated areas, as well as illegal dumping and environmental degradation.

Mutare District Development Coordinator (DDC) Tendai Kapenzi announced the cleanup programme from his boardroom today. Stakeholders including representative of Mutare City, Mutare RDC, ZNA, ZPCS, Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA) and EMA attended the briefing.

All illegal structures are going to be dismantled and the two councils said this is after notifying the vendors to remove the structures before they are destroyed.

Kapenzi said the exercise would be implemented through a coordinated approach with stakeholders.

“Every stakeholder has a role to play to see the success of this directive. We will not discriminate against anyone, but implement according to the law,” he said.

City of Mutare Chamber Secretary Willard Masimba said his team of Municipal Police Officers is ready for the duty tomorrow.

Mutare RDC chairperson Hopewell Muzaeni said his local authority will target illegal settlements.

“My advice is those who have settled illegally should remove their structures before we take action. We want clean communities,” he said. *_-Masvingo Mirror_*