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Conmen
target Harare shop owners
Jennifer Dube The Standard (Zimbabwe)
January
10, 2011
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/local/27955-conmen-target-harare-shop-owners-.html
Some people
suspected to be Zanu PF supporters are reportedly going around harassing
shop owners in Harare, with claims that sums amounting to thousands
of dollars are being demanded from the helpless entrepreneurs.
Harare Mayor
Muchadeyi Masunda yesterday said he received reports that some people
last week approached some shop owners demanding as much as US$25
000 claiming to be acting on behalf of the city.
These purported
license fees are way above the city's which average $500 for
the whole year.
Masunda said
the imposters are reportedly moving from shop-to-shop threatening
the owners, mostly Indians, telling them that their licenses would
not be renewed if it turned out that the directors are not Zimbabweans.
"I have
also received reports that council officials are denying non-citizen
shop owners' licenses," he said. "Shop operators
have also been forced to produce the form CR14 which gives details
on the directors of the business."
This comes at the back of threats by Zanu PF Harare province structures
that foreigners running shops in the city would be dispossessed
of the businesses and replaced with party supporters.
Led by district
coordinating chairman Jaison Pasadi, the Zanu PF supporters have
since approached the City Fathers demanding that they flout council
by-laws to empower locals.
Among others,
Chinese and Nigerian nationals run several shops in the city where
they sell clothes, electricals, and household merchandise as well
as hair and beauty accessories.
Citizens of
Indian origin also have a significant presence in the country's
small scale sector.Masunda said foreign shop owners were granted
licenses after satisfying town planning and health requirements.The
council requires all applicants to produce documentary evidence
that they are entitled to operate a business in Harare before issuing
them with a license.
Applicants'
choice of premises also has to be permissible to their intended
business and these premises should address health concerns by having
ablution facilities for both the clientele and workers.
"As the
City Fathers, we have a town planning and a licensing mandate,"
Masunda said. "We are not interested in who people are in
partnership with, there is no law that compels us to look into that."
He urged shop
owners not to give anyone any money but to refer all demands to
the City Treasurer's Department and also his office so they
could be looked into.
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