Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET)’s leadership yesterday, Wednesday the 14th of November 2018, met with His Worship the Mayor of Harare Councilor Herbert Gomba at his Town House offices. The meeting which also served as a courtesy call, presented VISET’s leadership with the opportunity to congratulate Councilor Gomba on his appointment as the Mayor of the capital city of Zimbabwe. The meeting was also attended by the Deputy Chairperson of the Informal Sector Committee, Councilor Denford Ngadziore. The VISET delegation included the Chairperson for Harare Central Business and 3 members of the secretariat.
In his presentation, VISET Executive Director Samuel Wadzai welcomed the Mayor’s open-door policy and hailed him for accepting the organization’s request to meet with him and his team. He further, commended the City fathers for working very hard to curb the cholera outbreak and prevent the continued loss of lives in Harare and its neighboring towns. On the issue of the evictions of street vendors VISET Executive Director urged the Mayor and his team in the Informal Sector Committee to ensure that platforms for dialogue and constructive engagement are created at all levels. He stressed that, there is need to embrace a holistic and human rights-based approach in addressing the challenges bedeviling the informal economy in general and street trading in particular, thus taking a sustainable and long-lasting solution. On the issue of the identification of new vending sites for instance, the VISET Executive Director urged the Mayor and his team to never treat it as an event but rather a huge process that requires comprehensive consultations with all the critical stakeholders. He also touched on the issue of the by laws which he said needs to be updated so that they are in sync with the prevailing economic realities.
In his response, the Mayor commended VISET for the work that the organisation is going to uplift the lives of informal traders at all levels. He further challenged VISET to continue doing research and assist the City Fathers in adopting best practices from other countries that managed to deal with the challenges of organizing the informal economy.
Source: Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET)