‘Council Is Not Weak’: Mafume Tells Vendors to Comply or Face Full Force
By Loyd Matare
Harare mayor Councillor Jacob Mafume has issued a stern warning to vendors operating in the central business district (CBD), urging them to regulate their businesses and comply with city by-laws or face decisive enforcement action from council, which he said is “not powerless” when pushed.
This comes amid a long-running standoff between Harare City Council and street vendors, whom the municipality blames for clogging the CBD’s drainage systems through littering and the illegal storage of goods inside storm-water drains.
Speaking to journalists at Town House recently, Mafume said council had deliberately exercised restraint, but warned that patience should not be mistaken for weakness.
“We are going to enforce the law and anyone who feels defiant will also find us matching their defiance. Unozochema ndiwe,” Mafume said.
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“We have given people a bit of time to regulate their affairs. It’s not because we do not know what to do to deal with the situation, but because we believe residents can self-regulate.”
Mafume said council has the legal and operational capacity to act decisively when compliance fails.
“We can’t be hard all the time, but when you force us to be hard, at the end of the day you are the one who cries that city council is now tough,” he said.
“It does not pay to be defiant against the whole council because we have got the tools to deal with the alleged defiant vendors.”
He added that the grace period extended to vendors was meant to allow them to regularise their operations, similar to payment plans offered to ratepayers.
“The leeway we have given is to allow you to regulate your affairs. Let’s learn that it does not pay not to comply with city council by-laws,” Mafume said.
“Sooner or later, the long arm of the law will catch up with you.”
Vendors, however, argue that council’s enforcement approach ignores economic pressures driving informal trading.
A vendor operating at Speke and Leopold Takawira St said traders were willing to comply but needed proper consultation and designated vending spaces.
“People want order, but they also want to survive. Council must engage us meaningfully,” he said.
