Investigate arson attack

Corrections
Owing to their callousness in dealing with vendors, it is easy for people to simply conclude it must have been the municipal police that burnt vendors’ goods worth thousands of dollars on Friday morning.

Owing to their callousness in dealing with vendors, it is easy for people to simply conclude it must have been the municipal police that burnt vendors’ goods worth thousands of dollars on Friday morning.

Standard Editorial

The Harare municipal police is known to be ruthless and unsympathetic in the manner it has chosen to deal with street vendors.

They have chased vendors away, confiscated their wares, and beaten them up, all in broad daylight, apparently without a care of who bore witness. That the same conspicuous  municipal police would now at 3am choose to drive a vehicle without registration numbers to go and burn the vendors’ wares kept at the Julius Nyerere footbridge, is quite difficult to believe.

What, all of a sudden, would have prompted such a dawn raid when council clean-up campaigns have always been conducted in full view for everyone to witness them “reclaim back the Sunshine City”.

Whoever burnt those wares must have been on a very sinister mission to do maximum damage and instil fear into the hearts of vendors. It’s a matter of public record that Zanu PF government, which has a penchant for unleashing violence on citizens, wanted to use the army to flush out the vendors but backed down after facing resistance.

It would not therefore be far-fetched to think that the same government may now be clandestinely resorting to its military and intelligence operatives who notoriously drove the unregistered cars in the run up to the June 2008 presidential election to decisively deal with the vendors, especially after they have threatened to ditch Zanu PF come 2018.

Instead of just blaming municipal police for this act, we call for a thorough investigation into the arson attack which will determine who is really behind it. Those responsible should be brought to book and should compensate the vendors for their losses.

Violent and bloody elections ahead
By The Standard Aug. 28, 2022
Ziyambi’s Gukurahundi remarks revealing
By The Standard Aug. 21, 2022
Time to plan for returning residents
By The Standard Aug. 14, 2022
Charging school fees in forex unreasonable
By The Standard Aug. 7, 2022