BY BEAUTY NYUKE
GOVERNMENT yesterday continued with the demolition of illegal structures in Harare, pulling down tuckshops at Mbare Musika market as well as Mbare flats.
Residents expressed mixed feelings over the exercise, which has plunged many informal traders into abject poverty.
Two council front-end loaders pulled down illegal structures and facilities such as tuckshops established along the road and backyard food outlets under the watch of over 60 police officers.
The demolitions came after a similar exercise at Mbare’s Magaba home industrial area, Mupedzanhamo, Shawasha, Nenyere and Matapi flats on Saturday.
The demolitions, which started early in the morning, caught the traders unaware, with some rushing to salvage their wares before their structures were pulled down.
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While some residents implored the government to first identify alternative sites for informal traders to operate from, others hailed the demolitions, accusing the traders of building structures on road servitudes, in the process obstructing traffic movements.
Kudakwashe Maore (27) said desperation forced him to operate from an illegal structure.
“I lived in the tuckshop, it was a form of a house because I do not have anywhere to live. I cannot go back and stay with my parents who are struggling and living in two rooms in Budiriro,” he said.
Allan Kudzanai Shamba (23), whose structure was demolished on Saturday but is already building another illegal structure, said he had no other means to sustain himself.
Mbare resident Faith Chawatama said: “I am very happy with what happened today because many of the structures that were demolished belong to the Congolese. These people are not even Zimbabweans, they are not supposed to be here, but they are taking up space which we were supposed to occupy.”
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