Bornwell Dirwai, a street vendor in Harare’s central business district (CBD), was arrested by municipal police for selling fake and expired groceries.
In a statement issued on Wednesday morning, the City of Harare (CoH) revealed that Dirwai was found in possession of expired goods that had been repackaged in South African-branded containers.
<img alt="May be an image of 1 person and text" decoding="async" src="https://scontent-jnb2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/472854177_1021600993330099_2990914803958246758_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&amp;ccb=1-7&amp;_nc_sid=833d8c&amp;_nc_ohc=K_4d4M4wJDsQ7kNvgHqShRK&amp;_nc_zt=23&amp;_nc_ht=scontent-jnb2-1.xx&amp;_nc_gid=AlJlqy6vCNOg9zYJ_6bRKa5&amp;oh=00_AYCf9LCM2dvargTE_FFlP6DOju6W3h4QzB5wKHajmyWhwQ&amp;oe=67844E63"/>
Dirwai was selling products, including margarine, meat pies, and powdered milk at the intersection of Rezende and Robert Mugabe streets. The statement from CoH reads:
<blockquote>
Harare Municipal Police today arrested a vendor, Bornwell Dirwai at the intersection of Rezende and Robert Mugabe streets for selling fake and repackaged groceries. Most of the groceries are expired.
The repackaged products include milk packaged in South African branded containers, margarine in Buttercup margarine containers and Zimgold packages.
Residents are urged to exercise extreme caution when purchasing goods. They should only buy from reputable shops to avoid health complications caused by fake products that have flooded the market.
</blockquote>
Reports indicate that shoppers in Zimbabwe are increasingly opting for cheaper informal markets instead of supermarkets. These markets appear at night to evade authorities.
<img alt="May be an image of food and text" decoding="async" src="https://scontent-jnb2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/472432526_1021601059996759_3947388791848946930_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&amp;ccb=1-7&amp;_nc_sid=833d8c&amp;_nc_ohc=DkoJ12R5RqoQ7kNvgE0z7J6&amp;_nc_zt=23&amp;_nc_ht=scontent-jnb2-1.xx&amp;_nc_gid=AZxV5O0TyESj6GjGUp5iaZ8&amp;oh=00_AYDCN61tpSi8vywx0N3UqpzoTXCuXYYGiP95J6tis8nl3g&amp;oe=67845004"/>
These temporary shops, which pop up on sidewalks, store verandas, and car parking spaces, offer a wide range of goods, including groceries, fresh meat, electronics, clothes, medicines, fashion accessories, and stationery.
<img alt="May be an image of text" decoding="async" src="https://scontent-jnb2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/472613395_1021601106663421_282269440063965747_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&amp;ccb=1-7&amp;_nc_sid=833d8c&amp;_nc_ohc=5qyiQdkNoLYQ7kNvgFQnpJv&amp;_nc_zt=23&amp;_nc_ht=scontent-jnb2-1.xx&amp;_nc_gid=A_y8axgOovCTO4XZjaM43Cm&amp;oh=00_AYBiBPF5jiMeXfSuki5lqt628yOexSn9na68SxF5Qpbf0Q&amp;oe=67845E24"/>
These vendors avoid expenses such as rising energy costs, taxes, and regulations that force formal retailers to accept the local currency at artificially low official exchange rates.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

Pindula News

A street vendor in Harare named Bornwell Dirwai was arrested for selling fake and expired groceries like margarine, meat pies, and powdered milk. He was caught selling goods that were repackaged in containers from South Africa. The City of Harare warned residents to be careful and only buy from reputable shops to avoid getting sick from fake products. People in Zimbabwe are choosing to shop at informal markets that pop up at night to avoid authorities. These markets sell a variety of goods and avoid expenses like taxes, making them cheaper for shoppers.

Harare Street Vendor Arrested For Selling Fake And Expired Groceries

The Harare City Council has conceded that the removal of street vendors has been a failure.
The Government recently ordered the local authority to remove vendors from the streets in the Central Business District to curb the spread of cholera which has since been detected in almost all districts in the country.
On Wednesday, several senior Government officials met with the media to give an update on the state of water, sanitation, hygiene and current cholera outbreak control in Zimbabwe.
Speaking at the meeting, City of Harare health services department director Dr Prosper Chonzi said (<a href="https://www.chronicle.co.zw/we-have-failed-to-remove-vendors-harare-city-council/">via Chronicle</a>):
<blockquote>
An order was made for us to remove all the food vendors in Harare to ensure that our streets are clean. But as you have seen we haven’t done very well there.
The general economy is playing against us. We have been playing hide and seek after vendors and it isn’t working.
We are glad now that the Government has come up with Chenesa Harare, and if we clean up for now then we come up with medium and long-term plans to maintain the clean environment that’s there.
As the Director of Health in the City, I’m not happy with the vending situation in the city, it’s plain against what we are trying to achieve and contain the outbreak. And trying to enforce not giving us the intended results.
</blockquote>
Chonzi said there must be a change of mindset and residents should know that they risk contracting diseases by buying food from uninspected places.
As of 24 January 2024, Zimbabwe had 20 446 suspected Cholera cases, 2 324 confirmed cases, 19 711 recoveries, 71 confirmed deaths and 381 suspected deaths.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

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