Dubai based business woman and aspiring president for Zimbabwe Democratic and Economic Freedom Party (ZDEFP), Edith Chibhamu has challenged Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa to do the right thing and assist parents in the informal service with their children’s school fees.

Posting on her micro-blog Facebook page Chibhamu said: “Now that the lockdown has ended and ED says schools must open, who is going to pay fees for the informal traders’ children since their businesses were closed?

Vendors and informal workers’ groups in Zimbabwe say that city officials, with the support of the government, have been exploiting the lockdown destroying makeshift shops and market stalls while their owners were observing stay-at-home orders last year.

In a conjoint statement the former minister of state for Harare Oliver Chidawu and former mayor Hebert Gomba said they noted with concern the anxiety that has gripped players in the informal sector, especially when the demolitions began.

In an exclusive interview with Chibhamu on the sidelines of her challenge to the president she said:

“Mnangagwa’s government still claims that the aim of the operation was to remove illegal businesses and ensure that cities are “clean, orderly and well-managed” while also making sure councils don’t lose out on potential revenue although they did not consider the destructiveness to such a diabolic act against the ordinary people and the informal sector”

“I expected Mnangagwa’s administration to be reserving low capital sectors of the economy only for locals. It’s sad that he has chosen to side with foreigners whilst his own people are languishing in poverty with unemployment rates close to 95% percent”.

“Mnangagwa is treating his own people like strangers. How can a normal government approve a Chinese national to come to Zimbabwe and start Sadza (staple) and bottled water business when locals are unemployed and often denied that opportunity?”

“He must know that our youths are the guarantee to the future of our nation and it’s high time we build a strong foundation. The government must promote youths and have them in all levels of leadership and not victimize them on the basis of their different political affiliations” Chibhamu said