The Sunday News
AT least 2 000 vendors have registered to operate in Bulawayo city centre prompting the local authority to come up with plans to provide new vending sites although the move might face resistance as the proposed places are far from the city centre.
In an interview on Friday, Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo said plans were in the pipeline to create new vending sites for a huge number of traders who wanted to operate in the city.
“We are going to talk to the vendors and possibly take them to Masotsha Ndlovu Avenue but the problem is that there are no people there and there is no traffic. But a suggestion has come to say instead of sending them to Masotsha Avenue let’s take the market place (from Fifth Avenue) to Masotsha and then people will be forced to go there to Masotsha,” he said.
Clr Moyo said the process to find new places for the vendors was going to take a bit of time as there were many factors that needed to be considered before moving them.
“We must organise them before moving them. It should not be random but should be orderly. By Monday last week over 1 900 vendors had registered to trade in the city,” said the Mayor.
The city has 6 240 unoccupied vending bays which were deserted after the traders noted low customer volume and moved to illegal points some of them in the CBD.
He said the local authority had asked Government to afford the local authority more time to amicably deal with the illegal vendors issue in the city centre.
“I have written to the Local Government, Public Works and National Housing and say ‘please give us time to work on this issue’ because it’s something that we cannot do overnight,” he said.
The mayor also added that the illegal vending issue was not a ‘‘serious problem in Bulawayo’’.
Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo recently ordered all local authorities and rural district councils to remove vendors from the Central Business Districts (CBD) arguing that they were compromising health standards.
However, estate agents in Bulawayo said the removal of illegal vendors from the central business district would bring order in the city.
The Estate Agents Council chairman Mr Oswald Nyakunika said illegal vending was a menace to the city.
“We have situations where vendors are sitting and selling in front of shops, selling the same products that are being sold in the shops and disregarding existing town planning regulations. That cannot be allowed to go unchecked,” said Mr Nyakunika.
“The authorities are therefore right that we need to bring some kind of order by creating designated vending areas separate from formal shopping areas. I believe there is room for all, formal and informal, as long as we have some kind of order.”
He defended the high rentals being charged by property owners in the CBD and said they were being determined by market forces.
“If the rentals are high it is because there is a shortage of premises. If there is an oversupply rentals will naturally come down. That to me is the basis of price or rent determination. We know the effect of price control from our own experience. Shops were empty as producers refused to supply at ridiculous price. Developers will stop to build if the rentals or returns are below what is considered economic levels,” said Mr Nyakunika.
He said some traders were moving out of the formal sector and operating in the streets in order to evade paying taxes.
“We have seen empty shops and empty flea market stalls. Majority of those people who have vacated flea market stalls and shops, have moved back into the informal sector where they don’t pay rent and even run away from paying taxes,” he said.
Bulawayo Entrepreneurs Association (BEA) president Mr Isiah Jonga said illegal vendors were choking the operations of the business.
“As BEA we are totally against such illegal vendors who operate in front of established premises and start trading without licence. They should get licences and operate legally and in proper structures rather than go and disturb other people’s businesses,” said Mr Jonga.
Owing to the economic downturn, the number of unemployed people is increasing and many of them are turning to illegal vending in order to eke out a living.
Most streets in the CBD are now littered with vendors who are violating the city by-laws by selling their goods such as stationery, meat, clothes, footwear, cellphone gadgets and accessories next to registered businesses.
