Mapping the Conflict Between Street Vendors and Harare City Council Towards Building Peace in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Street vending has become the most common economic activity not only in Harare, but also throughout the Zimbabwe’s main urban centres. Street vending has provided employment for the greater majority of Zimbabweans. It has provided a means of survival and contributed to the efforts to end poverty and hunger, which are sustainable development goals number 1 and 2 respectively. However, running battles between urban authorities and street vendors are common without any solution in sight. Although urban authorities have their own council police they often enlist the services of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and sometimes Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) to help them remove illegal vendors from the streets. Pushed by the need to survive from vending, street vendors vowed to remain in the streets creating a complex intractable conflict with so many dimensions and actors. This chapter sought to map the conflict between Harare City Council (HCC) and street vendors using the conflict mapping analysis tool, which helps to identify the parties in conflict, the issues, the context, relationships and the dynamics of the conflict for the successful resolution of the conflict. A nuanced understanding of these dynamics stands a better chance of peaceful resolution of the conflict. This is premised on the idea that sustainable peace can only be attained if there is an exploration and understanding of the root causes of the conflict, the interests, wants and needs of the conflict parties. Again, addressing the root causes is key when resolving conflicts to avoid spoilers. It is only through the consideration of all stakeholders’ interests that peace can be attained, in fulfilment of the sustainable development goal number 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions. The chapter adopted a qualitative research methodology because of the nature of the research objectives. Interviews, observation, journal and newspaper articles were used as data collection methods to map and analyse the conflict.

Dr Washington Mazorodze is a PhD graduate in Public Administration (Peace Studies) from the Durban University of Technology. He researches about domestic, regional and international politics, peace and conflict issues, human security, and governance. He is a Lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, Department of Peace Security and Society. Email: washvvvone@gmail.com