Recommendations Informal Trading Sector • There is an urgent need for vending marts to be built throughout Zimbabwe: some local authorities already have extensive plans and costing for what is required, but lack the funds to go ahead. It is in everyone’s interests for the informal trading sector to achieve a system of accountability and regulation. This will protect the rights of vendors and will prevent the continuous arbitrary arrests currently taking place, as well as controlling litter and crime. • The UN and the diplomatic corps should bring pressure to bear on the authorities including the police, to recognise the need for temporary vending areas to be established, in consultation with vendors and bearing in mind what is convenient to customers. This needs to be done immediately, in order to decriminalise vending. • The UN CAP for Zimbabwe recognises the urgent need to help those in the informal sector struggling to re-establish livelihoods. Concerted efforts in providing skills training and SME development are needed: local NGOs already involved in this need capacity building and support to increase their initiatives. Urban housing crisis • The international community should investigate possibilities of funding large housing projects either directly through some of the more accountable local authorities, or through NGOs partnering them. The Bulawayo council already works with several NGOs providing housing. Control of tenure could be easier for international donors if housing were built through local NGOs in partnership with international NGOs, rather than through bilateral agreements giving support directly to the government. • International donors should help build the capacity of local NGOs to be able to build on a large scale. • Pressure must be brought to bear on the Zimbabwean government to return full control of the building of housing to local authorities, in accordance with the UN report recommendations; the IMCs headed by the army should be disbanded. • The UN report has pointed out the need for Zimbabwean local authorities to relax urban housing legislation. This should be a priority, to facilitate building of temporary or transitional housing in urban areas, with materials that can be upgraded over time by owners. Colonial by-laws mean building costs are prohibitive, as types of materials that can be used are limited. Changes in legislation might protect residents against a future Murambatsvina, as the government would no longer have the rationale that their housing was in some way illegal.2 2 The issue of legality of structures is a contentious one: it is dangerous to go along with the assumption that those in poor quality housing have fewer rights than those in ‘legal’ dwellings, but nonetheless a relaxation of housing laws at this time would reassure residents and make it easier for people to afford the building costs of dwellings. 10