ABSTRACT This article uses the case of illegal street vending in Harare to explore the interface between urban governance and politics. Drawing on the ideas of urban governance and informal governance, it illustrates how polarisation between the opposition political party Movement for Democratic Change-dominated municipal council and the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front-led government is affecting governance in general and in particular Harare municipality’s ability to handle the illegal street vending problem. While the paper essentially identifies political expediency as the major reason why a lasting solution is elusive in handling the illegal street vending problem, it acknowledges that there are broad reasons for its persistence. Consequently, the article demonstrates some of the reasons why illegal street vending is difficult to end using the conventional methods and provides some alternatives.

中文翻译：

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在政治权宜之计上牺牲城市治理：哈拉雷的非法街头贩卖

摘要 本文以哈拉雷非法街头贩卖为例，探讨城市治理与政治之间的关系。借鉴城市治理和非正式治理的思想，它说明了反对党民主变革运动主导的市政委员会与津巴布韦非洲民族联盟爱国阵线领导的政府之间的两极分化如何影响总体治理，特别是哈拉雷市的能力处理非法街头贩卖问题。虽然该论文基本上将政治上的权宜之计确定为在处理非法街头贩卖问题时难以找到持久解决方案的主要原因，但它承认其持续存在有广泛的原因。最后，