The aim is to reduce sexual harassment affecting female street vendors.
The campaign continues tomorrow and will resume on August 29.
The awareness campaign comes hot on the heels of the ban on night vending, an unpopular Government directive which was met with much opposition.
It also follows the rape of a 13 year old pupil raped at Rezende Parkade bus terminus recently.
Some of the female vendors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that while the campaign was commendable, more needed to be done to provide clear avenues for reporting abuse.
This campaign is wonderful.
It will help us in a great way.
But we want to know the exact place to lodge our complaints.
If we know that place, it will be fine.
Because if they tell us to report to the police such cases of sexual harassment, a police officer will deny that it is happening and they will arrest you,” said one vendor. “If you refuse the sexual advances, they will arrest you every day, so we end up agreeing. ” Another vendor claimed that some police officers were exploiting their vulnerability. “They are taking advantage of our poverty.
At times, we give in because we want them to release us so we can go and sell our items. “There are times when we buy goods for sale, maybe costing around US$20, but then some officers arrest us and demand a fine of US$30.
How am I supposed to raise that money?
We end up giving in to the sexual harassment,” she said.
Tambudzai Rukuni, executive director of WAG, said the campaign was launched after it emerged that female vendors often gave in to sexual advances to protect their wares. “The SMART Harare project seeks to reduce the sexual harassment of female vendors.
We found out through focus group discussions that the female vendors were being sexually harassed in the bid to keep their vending business.
After the harassment, they are afraid to speak out and report these cases,” she said.
Rukuni added that many women were traumatised “Some will skip going to work after being harassed or even being raped.
They will no longer enjoy their families, and at times they are even afraid to tell their partners because the husbands will assume the wives initiated the harassment, yet it won’t be the case,” she said.
She also noted a widespread lack of awareness among vendors about how and where to report incidents. “They do not know where to report cases of sexual harassment.
But we are encouraging them to report the cases at the Victim Friendly Unit (VFU), which knows how to handle cases of sexual harassment. “The City of Harare police now knows how to handle cases of sexual harassment,” she added.
Rukuni urged the City of Harare Police to respect the rights of female vendors during arrests. “Understand that when one is arrested, they still have their rights.
Handle these women vendors in a manner that preserves their dignity because we see that even robbers are not sexually harassed. “We are not saying they should not be arrested, but take them into custody in a dignified manner, bearing in mind that these vendors are mothers and wives trying to eke out a living in these tough times,” she said.
