Law for Sale: Inside Harare’s Dirty Web of Bribes and Council Corruption

By Loyd Matare

Once known as the Sunshine City, Harare has degenerated into a chaotic maze of lawlessness, where the rule of law is auctioned to the highest briber.

At the heart of this decay lies the Harare City Council, now widely accused of being complicit in a complex web of corruption involving rank marshals, touts, illegal pirate taxis (mushikashika), and street vendors.

The city’s Central Business District (CBD) resembles a disorganized small-town marketplace, choked with unregulated vending stalls, kombis loading passengers at will, and food being served openly in alleys and on pavements.

Allegations are that, the City Council—the institution legally mandated to restore order has instead become the chief enabler of the chaos, pocketing bribes from the very activities they are supposed to regulate.

“The situation in Harare today is dire because a lot of the council officials are behind these deals,” said Harare Residents Trust Director, Precious Shumba.

“The vendors are simply easy targets. They are not as united as formal companies that pay commissions to win contracts. Vendors and touts become the source of bribe money for a lot of council officials.

“This explains why council officials don’t allow vendors to be formally registered and regulated, they prefer them operating illegally so they can continue demanding bribes,” Shumba said.

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He further revealed that fake “blitz” operations are staged with the help of corrupt Zimbabwe Republic Police officers, not to clean the city, but to shake down vendors for personal gain.

“Those blitzes yield very little financial benefit to the City of Harare but huge benefits to the officers involved. It’s a cartel,” he said.

This comes as the government last month issued a 48-hour ultimatum to all local authorities to remove illegal vendors, particularly night traders from undesignated areas across the country.

Citing serious health, safety, and security concerns, Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Daniel Garwe, cited that the mushrooming of unregulated marketplaces has disrupted legally registered businesses, created unfair competition, and led to unsanitary conditions that heighten the risk of disease outbreaks such as cholera and typhoid.

However, this battle against illegal vendors, rank marshals, and touts is far from new. Over the years, efforts to restore order in city centres have often ended in short-lived busts, compromised by the same rogue elements within enforcement systems tasked with upholding the law.

At the commuter ranks, the situation is equally grim. Rank marshals and touts, backed by enforcement insiders, extort money from kombi crews daily.

Ngoni Katsvairo, Chairman of the Greater Harare Association of Commuter Operators (GHACO), painted a disturbing picture:

“The presence of touts in ranks acting as space barons demanding money from our crew is disturbing our transportation activities.

“Sometimes they demand money equivalent to the fares of two or three passengers, which leads to fare hikes and drives passengers towards mushikashika,” Katsvairo said.

“Violence has also become common. Drivers who resist paying bribes are beaten up. Some of our inspectors have been assaulted.

“It’s criminal activity that needs to be curbed, but sadly, some touts are protected by bad apples within the enforcement agents,” he added.

He called for urgent intervention:

“We are asking authorities to deploy municipal police and ZRP officers inside the ranks to arrest violent touts.

“We have also started employing and training some touts as official rank marshals, but the excess number must be removed to maintain professionalism,” Katsvairo said.

Vendors, too, are trapped in a vicious cycle of extortion.

Samora Chisvo, National Chairperson of Vendors for Economic Development, confirmed:

“Indeed, money is extorted from vendors daily. If you don’t pay, your goods are confiscated until you cave in.

“Paying bribes becomes the only way to enjoy an uninterrupted workday without being harassed by City Council officials.”

A survey conducted by Afrogazette News at various points in the CBD revealed how deep the rot has gone. One interviewee, Tawanda Mudzimu, a kombi driver operating at Rezende Street Rank, didn’t mince his words:

“Harare has become a mess. You can’t operate freely anymore. If you don’t pay your ‘daily fee’ to council guys and police, you risk being chased away or impounded.

“Meanwhile, mushikashika drivers pay their bribes and operate freely. We, the registered operators, are the ones suffering.”

Vendors interviewed shared similar sentiments.

“Formalising our operations doesn’t make sense anymore,” said Maidei Choga, a vendor along Speke and Leopold Takawira Street.

“If you try to formalize, you’ll pay more, face endless paperwork and still be chased. Staying informal and paying small daily bribes is easier and safer,” she said.

The effects of this lawlessness are plain for all to see.

Rezende Street kombi rank, located less than 100 metres from the City Hall itself, has become a symbol of decay and depravity.

Commuters endure unhygienic conditions, stepping over rotting food waste and filth. Open-air food stalls, now a common feature even in high-end shopping centres, have invaded the CBD.

Food is prepared and sold from car boots and street corners with no regard for health regulations.

“Those responsible for enforcing public health laws are the same people eating at these illegal open-air canteens. Some council officials allegedly even own the operations, making it impossible to shut them down,” one vendor commenting on condition of anonymity said.

Meanwhile, the touts and rank marshals collect more money from ranks than the city council itself.

“The responsibility of managing the city has effectively been handed over to warlords. It’s no longer a city council, it’s a cartel,” said another resident interviewed during the survey.