police used to maintain the formally designated areas, financed from vending fees, but now there is no control, and litter and vegetable waste is growing. In short - the sector is now almost entirely criminalised and operates on the run, making its regulation impossible. Police defiance of Court Order During July 2005, the vendors’ association (BUTA) took the police to court for the illegal arrest of licensed vendors and the illegal confiscation of their goods being sold through officially allocated sites. In an urgent judgement on 21 July 2005, Justice Cheda of the Bulawayo High Court ruled:31 That the respondents [Police Officer Commanding Bulawayo Province and the Commissioner of Police and the City of Bulawayo] be and are hereby ordered to cease henceforth the seizure and confiscation of licensed traders’ merchandise. … The seizure and confiscating of the licensed traders merchandise in the absence of a court order is unlawful as this interferes with individual’s property rights. The judgement also concluded: That the 1st and 2nd respondents be and are hereby ordered to return applicants’ merchandise. However, as the bays had been demolished and as there had in any case not been adequate toilet facilities in the area of the 5th Ave council-designated vending sites, the judgement further ruled: That applicant [vendors association] be and is hereby prevented from occupying and trading in the allocated bays before 3rd respondent [BCC] constructs suitable bays and/or shelters in compliance with its own Building and Health by-laws. Continued harassment and theft of goods The police have ignored the judgement that orders them to supply restitution for goods taken, while vigorously enforcing the ruling that vendors be not allowed to trade until the council has (re) built appropriate vending facilities. The police have totally ignored that part of the ruling that declares seizure of goods to be in violation of property rights. Seizure continues on a daily basis. Goods taken are then shared out through a sham of a daily auction at the Drill Hall, in which vegetables are sold off for a fraction of their street value to police and their families. The seizures are little short of outright theft; charges are seldom laid against vendors and no records are given to vendors of their goods seized. To our observation, it is one way the under paid police force “do their shopping”. Such seizure occurs on a systematic, daily basis in Bulawayo, ensuring that the thousands of vendors remain in a desperate and criminalised situation. Vendors complained about the police brutality that often accompanies arrests, saying assaults are routine, and one of their members was thrown roughly onto a truck when pregnant. Women 31 Bulawayo Upcoming Traders Association versus The Officer Commanding Bulawayo Province and the Commissioner of Police and the City of Bulawayo, High Court, Cheda, Bulawayo, 13 and 21 July 2005. Judgement number HB/65/05. 22