Lorraine Madyirambire has been a vendor in Mbare, Harare's oldest township, since 2008.
For more than a decade vending has been the only way for her to support her family.
However, that source of livelihood was cut short this week as a joint operation by Harare City Council officials, the army and police evicted vendors from Mbare.
"I don't know how I am going to recover after this demolition. I lost stock worth $600 and I had invested a lot of money into building my structure," said Madyirambire.
"At the moment I don't have anywhere to keep the little stock I have left and I can't afford to move to the designated trading sites. It's just devastating," she said.
The city council defended the action, saying it was part of a "cleanup" programme to remove illegal structures and relocate the vendors to designated sites.
Many of the vendors, including Madyirambire, were given 24 hours' notice by the army and police to leave.
The crackdown was also implemented in Chitungwiza, 26km from the capital.
IMPOSSIBLE CONDITIONS
The evictions are the latest round in nearly two years of running battles between the authorities and vendors, but the involvement of the army was notable.
Samuel Wadzai, the leader of a group called the Vendors' Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation, said the clampdown on vendors had made it impossible for vendors to go about their business.
"Our members have lost goods and wares worth thousands of dollars," Wadzai said.
"We are not sure why we are being targeted by the security apparatus of the country. We have agitated for peaceful means of solving whatever challenges emerge in the informal sector.
"To demonstrate this commitment we have made numerous proposals to the government that seek to formalise the informal sector and strategically place it for sustainable, macroeconomic transformation."
Unity Zomba, a mother of two and a vendor in the city centre since 2012, said the removal of vendors had greatly affected her livelihood.
CHILDREN TO SUPPORT
"Vending is the only way I am able to look after my two children," she said.
"At the moment I can no longer afford to feed my children and pay their school fees. At the designated vending sites where we are told to go trade our wares, there are no toilets and no foot traffic that come to buy our stuff.
"You spend the whole day at the vending site and there are no people coming to buy."
DOING MORE HARM THAN GOOD
Wisborn Malaya, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations, said vendors played a role in the economy and harassing them was counterproductive.
"It seems our government has closed its ear to the plight of vendors," said Malaya.
Harare mayor Herbert Gomba said the authorities did not intend to destroy the vendors' livelihoods and that all those trading at informal sites should step forward and be allocated new space to carry out their activities.
"Taking up space at approved trading sites will eliminate demolishing illegal structures and loss of investments," he said...