Yesha
Senior Member
- Jan 28, 2026
- 123
- 48
Zimbabwe’s government has given street vendors operating from undesignated sites until Wednesday, September 9, 2026, to vacate the streets or face a nationwide crackdown.
Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe has warned of a “comprehensive, zero-tolerance clean-up operation” targeting illegal vending sites, beginning in Harare before being extended to other towns and cities.
Government says vendors must move to lawful, designated markets, citing the need to restore order, improve sanitation, ease congestion and protect formal businesses.
But behind the crackdown is a much bigger question: how many livelihoods depend on informal trading — and where will those people go?
THE SCALE OF THE INFORMAL ECONOMY
Zimbabwe does not have a current official national figure for the number of street vendors specifically. However, government statistics show just how large the informal economy has become.
ZIMSTAT’s 2023 Economic Census found 204,798 operational establishments across the country. Of these, 76.1% were informal, meaning roughly three out of every four establishments operated informally.
The latest figures displayed by ZIMSTAT also put Zimbabwe’s unemployment rate at 20.7% for people aged 15 and above, based on the second-quarter 2025 Labour Force Survey.
This helps explain why informal trading has become an important source of income for people unable to find formal employment.
In Harare, the scale is even more visible.
Recent reporting estimates that more than 30,000 street traders operate in the Central Business District alone. During a previous registration exercise, the City of Harare reportedly registered more than 100,000 street vendors, although the figure should not be treated as a current official count because the exercise does not establish how many of those traders remain active today.
WHY ARE PEOPLE SELLING ON THE STREETS?
For many vendors, street trading is not simply a business preference. It is a response to limited formal employment opportunities.
Zimbabwe has experienced prolonged deindustrialisation, company closures, currency instability and declining purchasing power, pushing more people towards self-employment and informal trade.
A recent report by Al Jazeera found that even some Zimbabwean civil servants have turned to vending after work to supplement their incomes.
The report documented government workers selling groceries in Harare after their official working hours, with workers saying their salaries were insufficient to meet household expenses such as food, rent, school fees and medical costs.
It also found that vendors have become increasingly important to consumers because they can sometimes offer goods at lower prices than formal retailers.
For unemployed Zimbabweans, the barrier to entering the informal economy is also significantly lower than finding a formal job. A person can start selling vegetables, clothing, airtime, food, household goods or imported products with relatively little capital.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM AFTER SEPTEMBER 9?
The government's position is that vendors should relocate to designated markets.
But the critical issue is whether there is enough space and infrastructure to accommodate everyone currently trading on the streets.
New Zimbabwe reported that Harare has only five official vending sites in the CBD, which previously accommodated fewer than 200 vendors, despite thousands of traders operating in the streets.
This gap between the number of people trading and the capacity of designated spaces is at the heart of the dispute.
Vendors' organisations have therefore called for alternative trading spaces to be provided before people are removed from their current locations.
The Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET) has argued that removing people without viable alternatives could push already vulnerable workers deeper into poverty.
The organisation has called for vendors to be involved in relocation decisions and for adequate trading spaces to be provided before displacement.
THE POVERTY QUESTION
Zimbabwe's informal economy cannot be separated from the country's wider poverty and employment challenges.
ZIMSTAT currently lists the country's overall poverty headcount rate at 57%, based on its 2019 poverty statistics. While that figure is not a measure of current street-vendor poverty, it illustrates the depth of the economic vulnerability facing many households.
The 2022 Population and Housing Census also showed the importance of self-employment: among economically active women of working age, 37.8% were classified as own-account workers, compared with 30.8% of men.
Own-account workers are broader than street vendors, but the figures demonstrate the extent to which Zimbabweans depend on self-employment rather than conventional salaried employment.
THE GOVERNMENT'S ARGUMENT
Government has not said that informal trading itself is illegal. Rather, the current directive targets traders operating from unauthorised locations.
Government officials argue that vending on pavements and directly outside formal businesses can obstruct pedestrians, contribute to waste and sanitation problems, create congestion and generate unfair competition for registered businesses.
Information Ministry Permanent Secretary Nick Mangwana said the government's position was not to eliminate informal trade but to regulate it.
He argued that designated vending zones with sanitation and waste-management facilities could provide a compromise between protecting livelihoods and maintaining public order.
THE BIGGER QUESTION
The September 9 deadline therefore presents Zimbabwe with a problem that goes beyond clearing pavements.
If thousands of people depend on street trading for daily income, removing them from the streets without creating sufficient alternative trading spaces or employment opportunities could simply move the problem elsewhere.
Previous attempts to remove vendors from Harare have often resulted in traders returning after enforcement operations ended.
This has created a recurring cycle: authorities clear the streets, vendors lose access to their trading spaces, traders return because they have no alternative income, and another enforcement operation follows.
For the government, the challenge is how to enforce urban regulations without destroying livelihoods.
For vendors, the question is more immediate: if the streets are closed to them tomorrow, where will they earn their next dollar?
And for Zimbabwe as a whole, the deeper question remains whether the country can create enough formal jobs and affordable, legal trading spaces to make informal vending a choice rather than a necessity.
Source: ZIMSTAT, New Zimbabwe, Al Jazeera
Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe has warned of a “comprehensive, zero-tolerance clean-up operation” targeting illegal vending sites, beginning in Harare before being extended to other towns and cities.
Government says vendors must move to lawful, designated markets, citing the need to restore order, improve sanitation, ease congestion and protect formal businesses.
But behind the crackdown is a much bigger question: how many livelihoods depend on informal trading — and where will those people go?
THE SCALE OF THE INFORMAL ECONOMY
Zimbabwe does not have a current official national figure for the number of street vendors specifically. However, government statistics show just how large the informal economy has become.
ZIMSTAT’s 2023 Economic Census found 204,798 operational establishments across the country. Of these, 76.1% were informal, meaning roughly three out of every four establishments operated informally.
The latest figures displayed by ZIMSTAT also put Zimbabwe’s unemployment rate at 20.7% for people aged 15 and above, based on the second-quarter 2025 Labour Force Survey.
This helps explain why informal trading has become an important source of income for people unable to find formal employment.
In Harare, the scale is even more visible.
Recent reporting estimates that more than 30,000 street traders operate in the Central Business District alone. During a previous registration exercise, the City of Harare reportedly registered more than 100,000 street vendors, although the figure should not be treated as a current official count because the exercise does not establish how many of those traders remain active today.
WHY ARE PEOPLE SELLING ON THE STREETS?
For many vendors, street trading is not simply a business preference. It is a response to limited formal employment opportunities.
Zimbabwe has experienced prolonged deindustrialisation, company closures, currency instability and declining purchasing power, pushing more people towards self-employment and informal trade.
A recent report by Al Jazeera found that even some Zimbabwean civil servants have turned to vending after work to supplement their incomes.
The report documented government workers selling groceries in Harare after their official working hours, with workers saying their salaries were insufficient to meet household expenses such as food, rent, school fees and medical costs.
It also found that vendors have become increasingly important to consumers because they can sometimes offer goods at lower prices than formal retailers.
For unemployed Zimbabweans, the barrier to entering the informal economy is also significantly lower than finding a formal job. A person can start selling vegetables, clothing, airtime, food, household goods or imported products with relatively little capital.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM AFTER SEPTEMBER 9?
The government's position is that vendors should relocate to designated markets.
But the critical issue is whether there is enough space and infrastructure to accommodate everyone currently trading on the streets.
New Zimbabwe reported that Harare has only five official vending sites in the CBD, which previously accommodated fewer than 200 vendors, despite thousands of traders operating in the streets.
This gap between the number of people trading and the capacity of designated spaces is at the heart of the dispute.
Vendors' organisations have therefore called for alternative trading spaces to be provided before people are removed from their current locations.
The Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET) has argued that removing people without viable alternatives could push already vulnerable workers deeper into poverty.
The organisation has called for vendors to be involved in relocation decisions and for adequate trading spaces to be provided before displacement.
THE POVERTY QUESTION
Zimbabwe's informal economy cannot be separated from the country's wider poverty and employment challenges.
ZIMSTAT currently lists the country's overall poverty headcount rate at 57%, based on its 2019 poverty statistics. While that figure is not a measure of current street-vendor poverty, it illustrates the depth of the economic vulnerability facing many households.
The 2022 Population and Housing Census also showed the importance of self-employment: among economically active women of working age, 37.8% were classified as own-account workers, compared with 30.8% of men.
Own-account workers are broader than street vendors, but the figures demonstrate the extent to which Zimbabweans depend on self-employment rather than conventional salaried employment.
THE GOVERNMENT'S ARGUMENT
Government has not said that informal trading itself is illegal. Rather, the current directive targets traders operating from unauthorised locations.
Government officials argue that vending on pavements and directly outside formal businesses can obstruct pedestrians, contribute to waste and sanitation problems, create congestion and generate unfair competition for registered businesses.
Information Ministry Permanent Secretary Nick Mangwana said the government's position was not to eliminate informal trade but to regulate it.
He argued that designated vending zones with sanitation and waste-management facilities could provide a compromise between protecting livelihoods and maintaining public order.
THE BIGGER QUESTION
The September 9 deadline therefore presents Zimbabwe with a problem that goes beyond clearing pavements.
If thousands of people depend on street trading for daily income, removing them from the streets without creating sufficient alternative trading spaces or employment opportunities could simply move the problem elsewhere.
Previous attempts to remove vendors from Harare have often resulted in traders returning after enforcement operations ended.
This has created a recurring cycle: authorities clear the streets, vendors lose access to their trading spaces, traders return because they have no alternative income, and another enforcement operation follows.
For the government, the challenge is how to enforce urban regulations without destroying livelihoods.
For vendors, the question is more immediate: if the streets are closed to them tomorrow, where will they earn their next dollar?
And for Zimbabwe as a whole, the deeper question remains whether the country can create enough formal jobs and affordable, legal trading spaces to make informal vending a choice rather than a necessity.
Source: ZIMSTAT, New Zimbabwe, Al Jazeera
