THE Zambian capital, Lusaka, still bears scars of years of neglect; with dilapidated buildings in serious need of a facelift or a touch of paint, and pot-holed streets in dire need of resurfacing.

However, as one walks in the streets or cruises down the main roads out of the city centre; the Great East Road, Cairo Road to the west, Church Road to the south, and Independence Avenue; one is struck by the relative absence of litter on the sidewalks and vendors by the kerbs.

All commuter omnibuses rank either at the Lusaka Inter-City Market or Millennium Market, and they do not travel through the city centre, but use roads on the outskirts on their way to these termini.

The commuter omnibuses, of course, pick commuters at designated termini on their way to their destinations, something Zambians have come to appreciate as they wait for the combis at the designated termini.

Yet this was not the situation a few years ago, when Lusaka bore the label of southern Africa's dirtiest capital. Then Lusaka had traders on almost every pavement, street people and families at nearly every corner, commuter ranks on almost every major road, and foul-mouthed touts who were forever drunk directing operations from the middle of the street.

Lusaka, before the clean-up exercise, was graphically described by Zambian journalist, Cheela Chilala, who said in part:

"Thousands of vendors literally took over shop corridors and streets, especially Freedom Way. Vehicles had little room to manoeuvre as the vendors occupied parking spaces and parts of the road. They sold anything from hardware to fresh food and alcohol. It was said that while moving from one end of Freedom Way to the other, one could get stone-drunk, get high on marijuana, drink tea or coffee, and enjoy bar-b-que meat."

"Occupancy rates of the more than 50 conventional markets in the city fell noticeably. The newly constructed modern Lusaka City Market, for instance, almost became a white elephant when only 30 percent of the more than 4 000 available stands were occupied by traders. Yet, just outside the market on the street, business was booming. The traders argued that there was better business on the street than in the market, as they vacated their stalls in legal markets to trade on the street."

Ironically, while business boomed for the vendors, Lusaka degenerated from its "Garden City" status to a dumping ground for filth. Some Zambian shop owners reportedly experienced a slump in business as the vendors, who were strategically positioned in shop corridors, and on shop fronts took away customers by virtue of charging relatively lower prices since they were not paying any rentals to the Lusaka City Council.

One would be mistaken for thinking Chilala was describing the Harare of two weeks ago; for vendors in Harare, just like in Lusaka also left designated stalls for pavements and other open spaces.

The decadence that had gripped Lusaka, prompted the Lusaka City Council to take the bull by the horns in April 1999, in an operation code named, "Operation Clean-up Lusaka", to rid the city of illegal structures, flea markets, vendors and street people.

Speaking in a telephone interview with The Herald from Lusaka yesterday, the President of the Press Association of Zambia (PAZA), Mr Amos Chanda, said the Zambian operation occurred in phases.

The first phase was launched in 1999, when the cash-strapped Lusaka City Council felt enough was enough and sought to bring administrative order to a city that had become a haven for criminals.

The vendors resisted attempts to remove them from the streets as they rioted, destroyed property and stoned cars in the city centre.

The then, Zambian President, Frederick Chiluba rebuked the Lusaka council authorities for their lack of sensitivity saying: "The street people are my friends, leave them alone, they belong to my office."

The former president instructed the LCC to allow the vendors to continue trading on the street until alternative trading places were found for them. The presidential intervention emboldened the vendors who went back to the streets with a vengeance, becoming a law unto themselves.

Mr Chiluba even created a Vendors' Desk at State House and appointed one Josiah Chishala as deputy minister responsible for vendors. From then on the vendors thought the president's gesture was a permanent blessing. They began jokingly giving their addresses as at "The office of the President."

The Zambian vendor thus became a law unto himself a political issue that became a headache to the LCC fathers, till another political event caught them (vendors) unawares.

The political event was the Organisation of African Unity conference that was scheduled for Lusaka in mid 2001. President Chiluba forgot his earlier pledge and instructed the LCC and Zambian police to clean Lusaka ahead of the summit.

The vendors did not take Lusaka Town Clerk Jack Mwiimbu seriously when he put a notice in the Press telling them to leave the streets. Even pleas from Lusaka Mayor Patricia Nawa are reported to have fallen on deaf ears. Nawa told the vendors to register for stalls at conventional markets.

Deputy Minister Chishala called on vendors to co-operate with the LCC, but was ignored.

With the President's blessing, the LCC and the Zambian police teamed up in the second "Operation Clean up Lusaka" under the supervision of Lusaka police chief Bernard Mayonda, who emphasised that the police would work with the council to put an end to the perennial problem of street vending, using force if necessary.

The joint operation resulted in the destruction of all illegal structures while a heavy presence of police in full riot gear acted as a deterrent. Some of the vendors attempted to march to State House for an audience with President Chiluba but were blocked by the police, who denied them clearance.

Staring defeat in the face, many vendors rushed to conventional markets to register for stalls, and to reclaim the stalls they had abandoned to become street vendors. Within a day or two, the streets of Lusaka were clean, the Lusaka City Market was fully occupied and business boomed as competition from the streets was eliminated.

When the exercise, which lasted less than a week was over, the face of Lusaka had changed. Council trucks moved in to collect the debris while police in full riot gear were stationed at strategic points all over the city, to ensure that the street vendors did not resort to violence or attempt to reconstruct their stalls.

The former illegal trading points were declared "prohibited areas" by the Zambian government, and anyone found trading from these areas was and continues to be prosecuted by a special court set up by the Lusaka City Council; the Fast Track Court which is presided over by a magistrate. The Fast Track Court tries and sentences offenders within two days.

The "Clean up Lusaka" campaign was welcomed by Lusaka residents and the business community who said the success of the operation was akin to a miracle.

This was so because some businesses had been forced to move out of town to quiet residential areas to escape the scourge of vendors and criminals disguised as vendors.

Since 2001, the Zambian government has always dealt mercilessly with any attempts to go back to the old order; the Zambian police and the LCC have maintained the close working relationship they forged under "Operation Clean up Lusaka," and carry out periodic raids on any fledgling illegal vending.

They also closely monitor the situation in the conventional vending markets; to ensure that the operators maintain healthy practices and to weed out criminal elements that always creep in after some time.

The latest clean up operation was launched in February last year, when the Zambian government targeted the notorious Soweto Flea Market in an operation that eventually spread to other towns. Soweto market had been infiltrated by food vendors who cooked nsima (sadza) on open fires, and did their dishes in the open.Diners were competing with iridescent green flies for the largest morsels.

This situation led to the death of over 50 people from cholera in one month, prompting the Lusaka City Council to close the market for two weeks, to allow the ministry of health to disinfect the whole area.

The Soweto clean-up cost the LCC K200 million; after the clean-up bona fide traders re-registered and were allocated stalls while criminal elements were weeded out.

To boost the city's revenue base, a proper database for the payment of levies was instituted.

The Lusaka of today is very different from the pre-2001 Lusaka, though it bears the scars of the former; the vigilance of the authorities has managed to keep the entropy from creeping back. In time Lusaka is bound to regain its long lost "Garden City" status.

The lessons that can be learnt from the Zambian experience are invaluable; clean-up operations are not an event but a process and it will take time for the streets of Harare to be completely cleaned of illegal structures and dealings.

Already some vendors are creeping back into the former trading areas, but as long as the authorities deal promptly and mercilessly with the scourge, then Harare will regain its Sunshine City status.

Yes, the Zimbabwean Government may have left the problem to fester, but better late than never. Each flea market trader knows that, in the mid 1990s Harare had only two flea markets, one was at the parking bay along Julius Nyerere Way, the space where Joina Centre is struggling to rise; the other one was at Sam Levy Village in Borrowdale.

These flea markets operated only on Saturdays and Sundays, they were not permanent structures. Every tuck-shop owner knows that the City of Harare has by-laws, any structure that is erected in the city's jurisdiction has to have the blessing of the city fathers; the same goes for hair salons; all these structures need to be regularised and licensed.

Everyone knows that to get accommodation in Harare, one has to go to Remembrance Drive, and get one's name on a waiting list, unless of course one has the money to purchase a finished house or an undeveloped stand. Which has to be on land sanctioned by the city fathers. All the people who are currently crying foul alleging that they are being abused by the Government, know that what they were doing was illegal.

Yes, some politicians, may have visited settlements like White Cliff or the so-called New Park in Good Hope and sold the residents a dead donkey; that their illegal structures would be regularised; that is between the settlers and the politician; it should never cloud the quest to bring administrative order to the country's towns and cities.

Some have even sought to politicise the clean-up campaign alleging that it is the ruling party's way of getting back at the residents of Harare for voting for the MDC, but that is as porous an argument as they come.

For did Marondera, Bindura, Gokwe and Chinhoyi; just to mention a few, vote for the opposition?

Isn't the clean-up an attempt to get rid of "the mushrooms they always decried? More spurious is the claim that; the clean-up is designed to whip up the people's emotions so that the Government can declare a state of emergency.

How a government with a two thirds majority, would wish for a state of emergency can apparently only be understood by those who speak with open mouths and shut minds

If any party needs a state of emergency, it is the main opposition itself for that will justify the invasion of Zimbabwe by the right wing forces waiting in the wings for just such an opportunity. Isn't that what all those dreams of "mass" actions were about?

Some have even questioned why, the Chinese shops are being left untouched, yet they conveniently forget that the Chinese are in shops, and not in illegal stalls or structures.

Unlike former President Chiluba in 1999, President Robert Mugabe, who ironically was being pilloried by the opposition media for "failing" to enforce the rule of law before, has already thrown his weight behind the clean-up campaign; and now stands accused of violating the peoples' rights.

Yet this exercise was long overdue, as the illegal structures had also become havens of illegality, which was threatening the economic turn around programme.

Many countries the world over were forced to change administrative capitals after losing them to physical and moral decadence, this is because the capital city is not only the face of the country but also the seat of government; and the image it portrays to visitors is the image they will have of the entire country.

The Central American State of Belize had to construct a new capital, Belmopan. Brazil moved its capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia; India moved its capital from Calcutta to New Delhi, Nigeria changed its capital from the coastal city of Lagos to inland Abuja, all these relocations where caused the proliferation of physical and moral decadence.

The relocations also involved massive costs, which far outweighed the costs of cleaning up. Thus Operations Murambatsvina and Restore Order, were long overdue, and should receive the support of all stakeholders.

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