THE City of Harare yesterday announced plans to go after space barons who are illegally parcelling out open spaces to unregistered informal traders for a fee.
Some of the space barons have hijacked many pavements as well as abandoned buildings, depriving the local authority of millions of dollars in potential revenue.
The space barons are grabbing every available open space in the city before illegally subdividing and renting it out.
Addressing delegates and the media during a Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (Viset) workshop yesterday, council’s chairperson for the informal sector committee and ward 16 councillor Denford Ngadziore said space barons were giving the local authority a headache.
“Harare is having a problem whereby the money we are collecting excludes Siya-So, Glen View Area 8 and a large part of Gazaland, meaning to say if those areas contribute to the small to medium enterprises (SMEs) revenue, it can amount to half a million dollars,” Ngadziore said.
“The money is going to individuals termed space barons and when the city fights space barons, it is the vendor who suffers. Therefore, we should speak with one voice so that we are able to deal with the issue of space barons.
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“There is also need for partnership with various organised SMEs, a move that culminates into a memorandum of understanding of registered people.”
Viset executive director Samuel Wadzai welcomed the proposed raids on space barons, saying they will help to regularise some informal businesses.
“As an association, we personally want Harare City Council to be collecting revenue so that the money collected can be used to grow the players in the sector,” Wadzai said.
“Space barons are a menace and we call upon all State agents, including security, to ensure that they are removed from the spaces they are operating to help council recover revenue to support the growth of the sector.”
Some of the space barons have allegedly been linked to the ruling Zanu PF party.
In a report examining political incidents between January and March, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said an investigation into clashes over vending spaces revealed that they were politically motivated.