Government Gives Illegal Vendors Until 9 September To Vacate Harare Streets

The Zimbabwean government has given illegal vendors operating in undesignated areas across Harare until 9 September to vacate the sites, ahead of a nationwide clean-up campaign targeting unauthorised street trading.

In a statement, Minister of Local Government and Public Works Daniel Garwe said the operation would begin immediately after the deadline in Harare and the wider Harare Metropolitan Province before being extended to other cities and towns across the country.

The government said the exercise is intended to restore order, improve sanitation, ease congestion and protect formally designated trading spaces.

Government Announces Zero-Tolerance Operation

Garwe said the growth of illegal vending in Harare’s central business district and surrounding metropolitan areas had become a serious public health, safety and urban management concern.

He said informal trading remains recognised as a legitimate source of livelihood, but must operate within municipal by-laws and authorised marketplaces.

“Whilst the Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe acknowledges the existence of informal trading as a recognised avenue of livelihood, this, however, should be within the bounds of municipal by-laws and at legally designated marketplaces,” Garwe said.

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“The current state of disorderliness on the streets is not tolerable.”

The minister also argued that illegal vending had contributed to blocked public walkways, poor sanitation, traffic congestion and disruption to formal businesses.

He further claimed that some illegal trading areas had created conditions conducive to drug and substance abuse and other social problems.

Vendors Ordered To Relocate By 9 September

Garwe said all vendors operating from sites not authorised by local authorities, including those engaged in illegal street and night trading, must relocate voluntarily to designated vending markets by 9 September.

From that date, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, together with other ministries, departments and agencies, will launch what it described as a comprehensive, zero-tolerance enforcement operation.

“During this operation, all illegal vending structures, stalls and sites will be completely disbanded. Municipal police will remain deployed to ensure that cleared areas are not re-occupied,” Garwe said.

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He warned that traders who fail to comply risk losing their merchandise during enforcement operations.

The minister said local authorities had been instructed to facilitate the registration and orderly placement of compliant traders into designated vending facilities.

Nationwide Rollout Planned

The clean-up campaign will initially focus on Harare before being expanded to other urban centres throughout Zimbabwe.

According to the government, the exercise forms part of broader efforts to create orderly, clean and safe cities under the National Development Strategy 2 and Vision 2030.

Garwe called on citizens and stakeholders to cooperate with law enforcement agencies during the operation, describing it as a necessary intervention to restore order in urban areas where informal trading has increasingly spread onto pavements, road verges and other public spaces.