http://www.newsdzezimbabwe.co.uk/201...arare-rot.html

http://www.zimeye.com/mugabe-hides-harare-rot/

Newsday|PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s attempt to hide the rot in Zimbabwe’s capital city from the eyes of Sadc leaders by applying “make-up” to the chaos through patching of roads, lighting and evicting vendors was an act of hypocrisy, opposition parties and analysts have said.

NewsDay is reliably informed that State officials worked closely with Harare City Council to clean up the city, particularly roads from the airport to the hotels where officials were booked.

Roads from the airport into the city centre were lit and resurfaced days before the summit. Council officials told NewsDay yesterday that there was a clear instruction from higher offices to ensure council assisted in speeding up the road works and lighting.

The usually potholed Seke Road was patched up, while the road leading to Rainbow Towers Hotel, venue of the Sadc Extraordinary Summit was resurfaced and well lit.
Vendors were also not spared from the attempt to sanitise the city ahead of the Sadc Summit. National Vendors’ Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Justice Manayi said their members were ordered off their sites.

“We have received reports from our members especially along Julius Nyerere Way, Robert Mugabe Road and Jason Moyo Avenue that they were forced off the streets so that the Sadc leaders would not see them. They were saying they should pave way for the dignitaries and not disturb them,” Manayi said.

“However, this approach is very wrong in that they have to feed their families. That summit should not make vendors’ families suffer because a day lost on vending is too much of a loss as we don’t earn that much.”

Council sources said the local authority was involved in the speeding up of the refurbishment of roads and had an April 24 deadline.

Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni, however, said he was not aware of any directive to assist government in refurbishing the roads. He said there was nothing wrong in presenting a picture of a clean Harare