By Yvonne Manjengwa
2 February 2018 – Acting MDC President Engineer Elias Mudzuri yesterday interacted with the Harare vendors listening to their grievances and concerns.
Mudzuri was accompanied by Harare city councilors, senior party officials and MDC Alliance partners.
In his remarks, Eng Mudzuri said vendors and council authorities should work together to ensure the city does not experience the outbreak of diseases such as Cholera and Typhoid.
“It is a remiss on the part of the government to threaten to unleash the army on the vendors, the issue of informal traders should be demilitarized and soldiers should remain in the barracks”, said Eng Mudzuri.
On 19 January 2018 the Government through the Minister of local government, public works and national housing, July Moyo issued out a 48hours ultimatum for vendors to vacate the streets in towns and cities.
The vendors urged the council to sort out problems such as toilets and ablution facilities in the city, and to re-look into issues of punitive fines and prohibitive rates charges on informal traders, among other issues.
Eng Mudzuri acknowledged that vendors were a reality in Harare that had emerged as a result of the failure by the ZANU PF government to create meaningful employment for the people, adding that the ruling party had miserably failed to meet its promise of creating 2.2 million jobs.
Mudzuri urged the vendors to vote wisely in the upcoming 2018 elections.
