GOVERNMENT, through the Local Government and Public Works minister Daniel Garwe, recently announced a ban on the importation and sale of second-hand goods, along with a prohibition on night vending in urban streets and corridors.
This move has sparked intense discussion, as it touches on the long-standing tension between formal and informal trading in our economy.
As an entrepreneur and someone actively involved in policy and business discourse, I approach this development not to take sides, but to reflect on it from two valid but contrasting perspectives: the compliance-driven formal trader and the survival-driven informal vendor.
The formal sector: Burdened by compliance
Formal traders in Zimbabwe face significant operational burdens. They pay rent, licensing fees, municipal rates and taxes to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority. In addition, they often invest in branding, infrastructure and employee welfare. These obligations are not optional — they are requirements of doing legitimate business.
However, these traders find themselves competing with informal vendors who sell goods, often second-hand, on pavements and corridors without incurring the same costs or obligations. Understandably, this creates frustration. How does one remain competitive while shouldering full regulatory weight, when another trader across the street pays nothing to operate?
From this lens, the government's directive is seen as a protective policy measure — an effort to restore fairness and order in urban commerce. It is a form of economic protectionism that aims to preserve the viability of businesses that are compliant and contribute meaningfully to national development.
The informal sector: Driven by necessity
- Benzema confident Real will reach UCL final
- Rigging exposes widening Mnangagwa, Chiwenga rift
- Health talk: Mental health disorders and demolitions in Zimbabwe
- Munatsi family speaks on banker’s shock death
Keep Reading
On the other hand, the informal sector is not made up of rebels, but of survivors. Many of these traders are unemployed youth, widows, single parents and retired citizens trying to make ends meet. In a country where formal jobs are limited, vending becomes a critical income source.
Night vending, in particular, allows many to earn after performing other daily duties. Their goods — especially second-hand clothing — cater to lower-income consumers who cannot afford retail prices. In many ways, they are servicing a demand the formal sector cannot fully reach.
Banning informal trade, without offering alternatives, may unintentionally criminalise poverty and disrupt the livelihoods of millions. We must acknowledge that the informal economy accounts for a large share of Zimbabwe’s employment and economic activity. It cannot simply be shut down without consequences.
The middle ground: Inclusion, not exclusion
The challenge is not whether to regulate informal trade — regulation is necessary — but how to do it constructively. Zimbabwe needs an approach that protects formal business while empowering informal traders to transition into regulated spaces.
This can be achieved through practical measures:
- Establishing designated vending zones with proper infrastructure;
- Offering affordable licences and simplified registration processes;
- Providing training and access to microfinance;
- Encouraging peer-regulated vendor associations;
The goal should be to gradually formalise informal activities without cutting off lifelines. Let’s turn unregulated trade into structured micro-enterprise development.
Conclusion
What Zimbabwe needs now is not enforcement alone, but engagement. Policies should not be about exclusion but about building bridges between the streets and the shops, the vendors and the business owners.
Both formal and informal actors play a role in our economic landscape. Formal traders need protection, yes — but informal traders also need pathways into legitimacy.
In our journey to develop a modern economy, let us aim to build a harmonised urban economy where compliance and survival do not compete but co-exist for the good of the nation.
- Believe Guta is an entrepreneur, public intellectual and author of the best-selling book Legal Battles of an Entrepreneur. He writes from lived experience in business and policy advocacy.
