THE government is moving with speed to deal decisively with cartels fleecing vendors operating in the Bulawayo Central Business District.

This comes as the second leg of the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works engagement with urban councils was taken to Bulawayo this Friday, where it emerged that four cartels are controlling vending activities along 5th and 6th avenues, pocketing close to US$30 000 per day.

“Our dream is to create attractive places, and we need to create good places for vendors, whether in winter or summer. We have properly demarcated bays, and with proper enforcement, we can allocate bays to individuals so that they pay and are under the protection of the council, and so that we know exactly who is renting where in smaller markets. If our vendors can work together with us and the police, it would be a win-win situation,” Bulawayo City Mayor Councillor David Coltart said.

The Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Honourable Daniel Garwe, disclosed that the government is taking the privatisation route to improve service delivery in local authorities.

“We know Bulawayo has red-marked areas of major concern, particularly Fifth Avenue and Sixth Street, which have become havens for illicit deals. There are about four categories of individuals collecting money from innocent vendors to the tune of US$30 000 per day. We are going to stop that. We are going to speak to ZRP and urge local authorities to deploy them as a matter of urgency,” he said.

The engagement comes hard on the heels of the launch of the Minimum Service Delivery Standards Framework and the Urban State Land Management Policy by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in June.