Zimbabwe: Vendors Defy Govt’s Ban On Importation and Sale of Second-Hand Clothing, Night Vending
Desperate Harare vendors trying to earn a living from importing and selling of second-hand clothing have defied government’s directive by simply ignoring orders to leave the streets.
Local Government Minister Daniel Garwe a fortnight ago banned the importation and sale of second-hand clothes along the streets as well as trading during the night.
Vendors have continued operating the streets of Harare, ignoring the order by the Minister, preferring to do business at night when municipal officers are off the streets.
Some of the affected vendors who spoke to NewZimbabwe.com lamented the economic collapse, which they said had worsened over the past few months, hence were resorting to importation of goods, mainly bales of second hand clothes for resale to earn a living.
“We are unemployed. We need some formal jobs so that we can leave the streets. It’s difficult to remain in-doors at home when you have no basics such as food,” Rudo Murotsi of Mufakose said.
One Leroy Kufa from Glen View Area 8, a university graduate from Class of 2015, said he had never been employed after leaving college, turning to vending since then but had managed to send his siblings to school.
“So, how are we going to survive?” Kufa asked rhetorically.
During the 2024 Local Authorities’ Performance Outcome feed back workshop in Harare last Thursday, Garwe reiterated the ban and ordered council officials countrywide to make sure that all cities, towns and growth points chuck off vendors by December this year.
“Let’s just accept that we created these problems. We must be able to deal with these problems. We want to see clean cities.
“I want to see all the cities clean. I don’t know how we are going to do it. At least by the end of this year, our cities must be clean.
“Everybody must be willing to come to Harare, to come to ‘Bulawayo, to go to Mutare, to go to Masvingo, from wherever they are outside our country. Let’s clean our cities. This is our motto.,” Garwe said.
“Let’s reintroduce the culture of cleanliness to citizens.
“And we also want to know that street vending and night vending are banned. Street vending and night vending are born out of the importation of second-hand clothing, which is banned. And the responsibility to remove these people from our streets and from operating at night is ours,” said added.
The minister took a swipe at night-vending alleging only abuse of drugs and substances takes place during the evenings along the streets of the capital city.
“There is no positive night vending that is taking place. It’s all drugs and substance abuse behind that night vending.
“Who, in his rightful of mind, or in her rightful of mind, will wake up at 12 midnight or 1am and say to the wife, I’m leaving, you know, I’m going for shopping at 1am. Or a woman leaving her husband or boyfriend to say, look, I’m sorry, I have to go. I’m going for shopping now. There is nobody. So this narrative that people have nothing to do, we are messing up people, it’s all hogwash.
“We must make hard and tough decisions to clean these cities. There must be tough decisions. Both tough decisions, positive results will come out,” he added.
“So, there is banning of second-hand clothing importation, subsequent banning of street vending, and subsequent banning of night vending.
“These are directives that are coming from His Excellency. We actually have a Statutory lnstrument through the Minister of Industry and Commerce to ban the importation…
“We don’t need that anymore. We can’t be in a country, or an area can’t be defined by seeing people selling used clothes along the streets.
Garwe said Zimbabwe cannot be a nation of people aspiring to wear second-hand clothing, adding the importation and sale of used clothes was killing the country’s cotton industry.
By New Zimbabwe.
