A vendor selling roasted maize near a pile of uncollected garbage along Kenneth Kaunda in Harare yesterday. -Picture by Munyaradzi Chamalimba
Leroy Dzenga Features Writer —
Aficionados, at one point equated Harare to the English capital London, owing to its immaculate architecture and cleanliness. The only deviation or blemish was the size of the two cities and the fact that the Zimbabwean capital had warmer temperatures, hence the acronym — Sunshine City.
Alas, decades later, the once glowing “Sunshine City” is only a caricature of the city that brought such international comparisons. Despite the blaring sun rays, Harare has lost its stripes to disorder, dirt and unflattering chaos.
Those who saw the glory days of the city have expressed discernment over the current, describing it as pathetic. As pensioner Mr Munhamo Chizanga (74) sat on the concrete stoep along First Street Mall, waiting for his turn to withdraw money from a bank, starts reminiscing of the early but gone days.
The days when Africans were allowed to walk up and down First Street without any restriction. He also remembers the glamour that was associated with the mall.
“I would thoroughly iron my trousers and carefully comb my Afro-hair with patience. You had to look important when you are walking into town, especially Harare’s First Street,” he muses.
Clearly outraged by the way the street and the Central Business District has degenerated into a vending market resembling internet images of West African capitals.
“During those days it was unheard of that a person would sell roasted maize along First Street, or in the city centre. These days you can find someone sewing in the middle of the road downtown,” he said.
Mr Chizanga also remembers when his Mozambican colleagues visited and left praising Harare for looking like a plush metropolitan that would fit in like a part of the jigsaw puzzle in any European country.
“During the late 80s, my friends from Maputo paid me a visit and I hosted them for two weeks in Harare. When they left they had felt the beauty of the city and could not stop talking about it,” he said.
However, gone are the days when Harare was the marvel of the Southern African region.
All that is left of the city Mr Chizanga remembers are images stuck somewhere in an archive while Harare is now a pale shadow of its former self.
A fortress those born after 2000 will only be able to see in their stretched imaginations.
Experts believe the slow response to the population matrix by the city fathers has had an impact and is the reason behind the madness in Harare.
Urban planning and governance expert, Mr Percy Toriro said the authorities’ inability to respond to the economic realities is the major cause of the current state of affairs.
“The challenges in the city are economic as well as how authorities have reacted to this reality. Our economy is now largely informal. This reality means that our policies and our plans have to react to that,” he said.
Mr Toriro added: “Some of the regulations which are being used to govern the city are said to be more than 20 years old, a long period in this dynamic and fast changing world.
“There is now a disconnection between where we are and the instruments of governance that should help the bureaucrats deal with the prevailing challenges.
“Our civic leaders must invest heavily in engagement, research, planning, and collective solution-finding.”
He said addressing the chaos in the capital and omitting commuter omnibuses would be an injustice to the plight facing Harare.
“The chaos on the roads is caused by the over-reliance on small public transport carriers that are also known as kombis.
“No city the size of Harare can rely on small vehicles for public transport,” Mr Toriro said.
He said Harare needs a combination of large 76-seater-plus buses as well as trains to transport the commuting population with sanity.
This is the reality in all functional similar-size cities such as Johannesburg, Cape Town or Durban.
“The chaos in Harare can be resolved by introducing a mass transit system. We were almost there when we had large buses in the past.
“When ZUPCO failed and we introduced kombis, that should have been a complementary service, however kombis have become the service hence the chaos,” he said.
Commuter omnibuses are not fitting in the provided termini and overflowing onto the streets.
Attempts to create a holding bay for kombis has not produced the desired results amid allegations of corruption and defiance.
Harare has been turned into a city of vendors prompting the City Father calling for municipal police to be granted arresting powers to help contain them.
Mr Toriro however believes the scourge needs to key approaches; engagement and planning.
“The cat and mouse game has not worked that is why vendors have even increased in numbers on the streets.
“It’s now about engaging each other and creating a win-win situation.”
He further states that authorities should allow vendors space in the CBD, but “carefully define and manage the agreed spaces.”
Poor drainage in the capital during the rainy season has also become a cause for concern.
Mr Toriro said it was however too late for council to attempt to deal with the situation on their own.
He urged the council to invest in the engagement of skilled stakeholders like civil contractors to deal with the blocked drainage system. He said Harare would need to make adjustments to their Vision 2025 which is slowly going off-mark.
“The attainment of Vision 2025 may require some tweaking.
“I would recommend that the City Fathers focus on the basics such as the failing road system, water and sewer upgrades, waste management and inclusive city planning.
“Progress on these can then determine how soon the vision is realizable.”
Below are some of the areas that have become a menace to the motoring public and pedestrians.
Former Ximex Mall Area
The Ximex Mall area, has become a haven for informal dealers, selling an array of wares from electronic gadgets to clothing items.
With hundreds thronging the area on a daily basis without ablution facilities for the traders chaos reigns once night falls.
During the day, dealers use toilets from nearby shops but use pavement but turn to the pavements using the cover of darkness.
People passing by the former Ximex Mall area have to endure a pungent stench of urine.
In other unfortunate instances, women are catcalled by the rowdy traders who abuse intoxicants as they go about their work.
For a centrally located zone, Ximex Mall area is an eyesore and the usual occupants are a nuisance.
The touts and street kids who throng the intersection at corner Jason Moyo and Julius Nyerere regularly cause problems for pedestrians.
There are also reported cases of people losing their belongings which are snatched as they try to cross the road.
The areas is also used as an undesignated pick-up point for vehicles travelling to Chitungwiza,
Touts who assist the pirate taxis disrupt traffic flows causing congestion.
This makes walking across Julius Nyerere Way through that point very difficult especially after during peak hours.
Speke Avenue (Copa Cabana) Terminus
Ironically, located close to the Harare City Council offices, the place summarizes the chaos, which has rocked the capital over the years.
There is an undesignated picking up point where pirate taxis load passengers for the Avondale-Parirenyatwa destinations at the Zebra Crossing where Speke Avenue cuts across Leopold Takawira Street.
Council has attempted, with limited success, to remove the taxis, who seem to have tamed traffic police officials.
The deployed police details can be seen engaging in friendly conversations with these perennial operators who defy by-laws in the full glare of the authorities.
Right in front of the City of Harare`s Department of Works office, vendors who display their wares leave little space for pedestrians to walk on.
The situation gets worse during the peak hour when performing groups, street preachers and informal movie producers set up projectors to screen their movies, drawing crowds in the process.
At the corner of Cameron Street and Jason Moyo Avenue, vendors literally block out the pavement selling household goods while some carpet the pathway with shoes covering more than four metres of space which should be left for pedestrians.
The addition of flea markets to the Copa Cabana rank has worsened the situation. People trying to buy second hand clothes virtually block the road.
Commuters have also made it difficult to walk through the bus terminus Cameroon Road to Chinhoyi Street.
Life is not easier for those driving through the area with commuter omnibuses blocking the way as they try to beat each other for customers.
Market Square Area
Walking along Mbuya Nehanda Street can be draining as every shop finds it plausible to blaze their speakers at full blast in a bid to attract customers.
The sound competition is quite deafening and worsens as one gets to the Gulf Complex.
Those who frequent the area are exposed to constant and consistent noise pollution.
Waste management is also a challenge in this area with Corner Bank Street and Leopold Takawira being turned into a rubbish dump that has not been cleared for some time.
Dampened by the rains, a heavy stench rises from the neglected rubbish and with flies making it a fertile breeding ground a health ticking time bomb is ready to explode anytime.
Business ventures along Leopold Takawira Street feel short-changed as they are losing business to informal traders who have set up shop on the pavements.
Meanwhile, Harare City Council Acting Corporate Communications manager, Mr Micheal Chideme said an operation to sanitize vending is on the way.
“We are working on moving out vendors from undesignated sites. The operation to move them to designated places will begin soon,” Chideme said.
The city fathers, he said, expect the move to protect the businesspeople directly affected by the illegal vendors.
“The move protects the interests of the formal business sector. We appreciate that the formal business sector has to thrive,” Chideme said.
Whether or not Council follows through on their word remains to be seen but the Harare’s City Centre has been reduced to an uncivilised market place where rules do not apply.
Who would have thought, in the prime, Harare’s CBD would be taken over by vendors roasting maize on the pavements!
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