HARARE:  Mugabe has deplored the vendor menace and lack of order in the Harare central business district (CBD), saying Harare should be the smartest city in the country as the capital. He said vendors operating in and around the capital should be moved to designated points to allow for the free flow of human and vehicular traffic in the CBD.

Addressing members of the ZANU-PF Youth League national assembly from the country’s 10 provinces at the party’s headquarters in Harare on Saturday, the Head of State and Government, who is also ZANU-PF President and First Secretary, said the capital city must be the smartest of all the country’s towns. He said he had already engaged Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo and Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Saviour Kasukuwere over the bad state of the capital.

 The President said he had been alerted to the alarming state of Harare recently when he was told that vendors had virtually taken over streets such as Julius Nyerere Way and Robert Mugabe Road. He said vendors sold their wares at night to avoid arrest, in the process blocking traffic. The President said he had been told the vendors could also not be arrested due to the forthcoming elections. He then decided to engage the responsible ministers when he was told the roads in the CBD had been rendered impassable.