THE Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy (Zciea) has amplified its calls for council to stop criminalising vendors and confiscating their goods amid a deep economic crisis.
For years, vendors and council have been at loggerheads, with the latter arguing that the move, is part of a broader effort to enhance the city’s image and ensure a clean and orderly environment.
Last year, informal traders’ representatives registered their displeasure over plans by the government to remove their members from Harare’s central business district (CBD) ahead of the Sadc summit.
Zciea secretary-general Wisbon Malaya told NewsDay that as the year begins, they are concerned about an increase in the task force deployed to terrorise vendors.
“Task force is targeting to address activities in the informal economy with the mission of saying the traders are not paying taxes.
“I think this is the main issue or the biggest disease we have continued to carry forward as a country for a couple of years based on the fact that we still feel [people in] the informal economy are criminals yet it is not the reality,” he said.
Malaya said the order made by the City of Harare for vendors to vacate the CBD was a wrong move as it criminalised them.
“We want this to stop in Zimbabwe. We just want to encourage people to do good and we urge people to pay their fees, their dues, which are practical and realistic so that we achieve the 2030 agenda.
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“In 2025 we are hoping that our city fathers are going to, especially number one, stop this continued disease of confiscating the traders goods, arresting them, making them pay fines for allegedly trading illegally.”
He said 2025 should be a year of change with the attitude of the city fathers shifting to understand that informal traders are citizens in their localities who are fighting to earn a living.
“We want the city fathers not to confiscate goods, not to arrest people but to create a friendly environment for people to register on the goods they sell, where they operate from and pay friendly taxes so that the city fathers can collect a handsome amount of revenue from the traders.
“We are also expecting some operations which happen under the instruction of the city fathers and with the backing of the Zimbabwe Republic Police to be reduced and be educative instead.”
Malaya further called on the city fathers to facilitate dialogue between informal traders and key stakeholders.
“We are requesting an open participatory dialogue which informs the local authority on how to address the plight of the informal traders in a proper way,” he added.
