MASVINGO City Council (MCC) has roped in the police in its crackdown on illegal vendors operating in the central business district (CBD).
This comes as the city has been overwhelmed by vendors with the municipal police facing resistance and failing to rein them in.
Masvingo police spokesperson Kudakwashe Dhewa told the Daily News yesterday that law enforcement agents were determined and were not turning back until sanity prevailed in the city.
“Police are on the case and we would like to reiterate that the blitz will continue until sanity prevails in the city centre. Illegal vendors should not be tolerated in the city centre and those with merchandise must sell their wares in areas designated by council and follow the local authority’s laws,” Dhewa said.
However, Dhewa warned the police against ill-treating the vendors and encouraged victims of abuse at the hands of law enforcement agents during the blitz to formally report to police.
“We hear rumours of vendors who are complaining about being mistreated by police during the blitz, they should come forth to our police station and report such cases other than complaining among themselves. While they are illegal vendors, we cannot take away their rights from them”.
Dhewa said he was not aware of the exact number of illegal vendors that have been nabbed so far.
But vendors feel the exercise was not fair as the local authority had not availed enough vending stalls for them to operate from.
“It is not fair for the police to chase us away like that because we have nowhere to go. The places they want us to go, for instance at Chitima, are too small to accommodate us. It’s not like we are resisting sanity, but we also want space. We cannot operate in the outskirts because there is no business there,” said Mavis Pachawo, a Masvingo Vendors Association member.
Pachawo said vendors would make an arrangement to meet with city fathers to deliberate on the matter.