Zimbabwean police are using heavy-handed tactics to remove hawkers who are trying to eke out a living, says the writer. Philimon Bulawayo Reuters

I am disappointed with how the Zimbabwean government is fighting against its vendors.

They are being brutally handled by the police – some of them armed with AK47 rifles.The contingent is also patrolling with water cannon to force the vendors off the streets.

Some of the vendors are refusing to go, insisting that all the designated places they are told to go to are full. They know if they leave, they will not have another source of income.

Sadly some of them are educated or qualified individuals with no hope because of the goverment’s incompetence. People are starving and in need of basic necessities. The government has failed to stabilise its self-inflicted economic plunge.

It proceeds with unnecessary plans, instead of reopening industries or supplying farmers in order to create jobs and eradicate the problems.

Chasing vendors away will not solve much. Instead, there will be more starving people to add to those who are poverty stricken.

The government has done a good job of creating this mess, so its high time all the officials resign. Their policies need to be revised by a new government that will be responsive for a prosperous Zimbabwe.