Civil Protection (Declaration of Disaster Destructive Fire Outbreak at Mbare Traders Market) Notice, 2024

The President has declared a state of disaster following the fire that destroyed the Mbare Traders Market in Harare.

The declaration records that the fire has left more than four thousand six hundred and ninety-five (4 695) traders without the market they relied on as their source of income.

A declaration under section 27 of the Civil Protection Act is what unlocks the emergency response machinery — it lets the civil protection structures direct resources, and it allows government and local authorities to move on relief and reconstruction under emergency rather than ordinary procedures.

The notice itself is short: it declares the disaster and identifies who is affected. It does not, on its face, set out relief measures, compensation, a rebuilding plan or an end date for the declaration. Traders looking for what they are actually entitled to will need to look at the measures announced under the declaration rather than at this instrument.