Zimbabwe: No justice for the victims of forced evictions 25 Following Operation Murambatsvina vendors were told they had to go through a “vetting” process to get new licenses. This process includes being finger-printed by the police, which had not previously been a requirement. Vendors and city officials in Bulawayo, Gwanda, Masvingo and Harare confirmed that even those vendors who were already licensed by the local authorities had to go through a re-licensing process. In order to be licensed (or relicensed) vendors had to pay fees amounting to US$10 in May 2006.69 Even then there was no guarantee that they would be allocated (or reallocated) a selling point. Under Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle some new vending sites have been constructed and some old sites reopened. The government’s Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle target for the informal sector is the construction of 1,147 vendor markets.70 The capacity of these sites is unknown. However, according to vendor groups and local authority officials interviewed by Amnesty International, few new vending sites have been constructed and vendors claim the new sites are in bad locations without passing traffic.71 In Bulawayo Amnesty International found evidence that the allocation of new and old sites lacked transparency and seemed to be based on political affiliation, barring those who are not supporters of the ruling party, Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). A group of women vendors alleged that their old vending sites in some areas have been reallocated to members of the ZANU-PF women’s league. Several vendors interviewed by Amnesty International claimed that they had seen new traders working at their old – legal – sites, but they did not know by what process they got there. A Bulawayo trader whose tuck shop was destroyed during Operation Murambatsvina reported that a representative of the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises told a group of informal traders at a meeting in Bulawayo, “if you are not ZANU-PF, forget it”. A city official in Bulawayo confirmed that many old vending sites in the suburbs, from which people had been removed during Operation Murambatsvina, have been reopened. However, the City Council could not say whether the sites had been given back to the original vendors as the list of vendors was compiled by the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises. The criminalisation of livelihoods Across the country people who were not licensed or allocated a vending site following Operation Murambatsvina continue to try to engage in informal trading. They do this because they have no alternative way of making a living. Some of these traders were operating legally before Operation Murambatsvina, but are now deemed illegal because they have not been able to complete the vetting and re-licensing process, often because of lack of funds, or because even with a new license they have not been allocated a site for vending. These unlicensed vendors and traders face daily harassment by the police on the basis that they are working “illegally”, which is defined as working without a licence and/or in an 69 Amnesty International interviews with city officials, Bulawayo, Gwanda, Masvingo, April/May 2006. Government of Zimbabwe, “National Housing Delivery Programme 2004 – 2008, Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle Shelter for the People”, December 2005. 71 Amnesty International interviews with vendors and vendor groups in Harare, Victoria Falls and Bulawayo, April and May 2006. 70 Amnesty International 8 September 2006 AI Index: AFR 46/005/2006