Harare’s battle over street vending has escalated into a cat-and-mouse confrontation, with vendors responding to Mayor Jacob Mafume’s deployment of 300 council police officers by mobilising their own network of informants to track authorities and monitor enforcement movements.
The council police were deployed across the Central Business District (CBD) to disperse vendors operating along designated corridors, but the crackdown appears to have triggered a counter-strategy from traders determined to protect their livelihoods.
Vendors are using WhatsApp groups to share real-time information on the movements and locations of enforcement teams and senior officials, allowing traders to warn one another when authorities approach.
A vendor operating along First Street showed Zim Now one of the WhatsApp groups allegedly being used to coordinate the monitoring operation.
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One of the messages circulating in the group indicated the location of Mayor Mafume and the Local Government Minister, demonstrating the level of surveillance vendors have established in response to the crackdown.
The vendor said the latest operation was not enough to force traders off the streets, arguing that previous crackdowns had failed to provide a lasting solution to informal trading.
“This is not new to us. It has happened before. We cannot abandon our livelihoods because of a situation that has occurred before,” the vendor said.
Rather than disappearing from the streets, vendors appear to be adapting to the enforcement campaign, using their own communication networks to stay ahead of council officers.
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