By Derick Tsimba 

Residents in Harare and Chitungwiza have bemoaned demolitions of illegal structures currently being carried out by the MDC led councils, Harare City Council and Chitungwiza Municipality. This act is deepening poverty and threatens social disorder, Harare Residents Trust (HRT) has said.

In a press statement yesterday in Harare, HRT said “The majority of residents view the demolitions as ill-timed and insensitive to the suffering poor who rely on the informal sector for survival, especially now that the country is battling adverse effects of Covid19.

“Others feel the councils should have at least communicated with the affected market stall holders so that they provided them with an opportunity to give their inputs and received explanations and justifications to the demolition programme,” said HRT.

HRT also said thousands of traders had been rendered vulnerable by the demolitions currently taking place.

“The tragedy in the ongoing demolitions however is that most of the informal traders have very little to non-existent assets in the form of social, financial, natural, human and physical capitals to give them a fighting chance following the demolition of their places of trade, their only sources of livelihoods.

“This means that the demolitions, in a fleeting moment, have rendered thousands of traders extremely vulnerable. More time is now required to get them out of the pit of darkness and poverty that they find themselves in. It is the survival of the fittest, but the fighting opportunities are unpredictable,” said HRT. 

The Harare Post has learnt that in Harare and Chitungwiza, these councils were charging the illegal market stall owners, receiving money in rentals and rates without correcting the situation by introducing model market stalls.

Further the MDC led councils failed to communicate with affected illegal market stall holders which has led to thousands of them now vulnerable traders regarding these councils as dishonest and misleading.