The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) will not be involved in the removal of illegal vendors who are operating in the central business districts of Harare and Bulawayo, Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi confirmed on Thursday.
The stage for a confrontation was set on Monday when the Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo, Harare Provincial Affairs minister Miriam Chikukwa and Presidential Guard commander Anselem Nhamo Sanyatwa gave vendors a seven-day ultimatum to relocate to designated sites.
The trio claimed to be speaking on behalf of the Joint Operations Command, a grouping of all state security institutions in the country including the army. But speaking at a Zanu PF campaign rally in Harare, Sekeremayi categorically ruled out the involvement of the army.
“The removal of vendors is the responsibility of the Ministry of Local Government and we are hoping that the Minister of Local Government (Chombo) and the Minister of Small to Medium Enterprises (Sithembiso Nyoni) are addressing that issue. There will be no involvement of the army”.
“I am saying the responsibility is that of the Minister of Local Government and Small and Medium Enterprises and when there are problems, they will go to the police and not the army,” he said.
“In a very unlikely situation, but I don’t think it will reach that, the army might be called, but still that will not happen.”
At the last election Zanu PF promised to create 2 million jobs. Instead the economic crisis has worsened and turned the country into what many are now calling a “nation of vendors.”
The vendors who have been given 7 days to move to so-called designated spots have meanwhile refused to budge and instead have given the government seven days to create jobs that will enable them to join formal employment.
