The Sunday News
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent
SIX months after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and commencement of the lockdown, vendors in Gwanda are still stranded as they have not yet been allocated working space.
Out of desperation some vendors have turned their houses into selling points, risking the danger of attracting the disease into their homes.
Law enforcement agents have not spared them as they continuously conduct raids to end the illegal activity. Those who are caught lose their wares and pay a $500 fine.
Vendors were displaced at the end of March as part of efforts by the town’s municipality to carry out a disinfection exercise and bring sanity in the town by relocating vendors as they were operating from illegal points underneath shacks. Vendors in the town have been patiently waiting for the past six months to be allocated new vending sites but they have had to wait longer than they had anticipated as the municipality is still in the process of developing the sites. Three sites have been identified in the Central Business District (CBD) where vendors will operate. A vendor from Gwanda, Mrs Grace Ncube said it had become difficult to fend for her family ever since their operations were suspended. She said with schools opening, raising school fees for her three children was going to be an uphill task.
“It has been six months since our operations were suspended and still we are not operational. When the municipality told us that we should dismantle our stalls as we would be allocated new working space, I thought that it would be something that will take a short time frame. Now I’m surprised that six months have gone and we are still stranded.
“Selling from our homes isn’t an option though I have tried it. We have to be constantly on the lookout for cops and when they arrest us we have to fork out as much as $500 to pay a fine, which is money that we won’t be having in the first place. Our livelihoods have been severely affected. As schools open I don’t even know how I will raise money to pay school fees for my three children. Vendors from other towns started operating long back but our case is different,” she said.
Mrs Ncube said there was a need for a quick intervention which could allow them to resume operations soon.
The chairperson of Gwanda Urban Chamber of Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) representing the informal sector, Mr Michael Ndlovu, said while some vendors were operating from their homes others have not been operating for the past six months which has severely affected their livelihoods. He said in Gwanda Urban about 700 vendors have been affected.
Mr Ndlovu said they had resorted to mobilise funds to set up structures to operate from as the municipality had indicated that it did not have funds to develop the area.
“I had a meeting with the council over resuming our operations and they indicated that they didn’t have funds to put up structures. We have then agreed as vendors that we have to mobilise resources and have a slab constructed. We have proposed that each vendor will contribute a bag of cement.
“From there we will get a plan from the municipality on the standard structures that we have to construct. There are two sites that have been identified in the CBD- one will accommodate 206 vendors and it’s the one which we will develop as vendors. The other two sites are under the Ministry of SMEs and will accommodate vendors that are registered under the sector. These sites are being developed by partners though they will accommodate a lesser number of vendors,” he said.
Mr Ndlovu said they planned to mobilise resources as soon as possible to ensure that they could resume operations within the next two weeks. He said they were however, going to face challenges in raising the money as some vendors have not been operating which meant they did not have a source of income.
He said in addition they were also supposed to identify shops they could rent for storage of their wares.
“There has been a general outcry from vendors in the town. They have been complaining for a long time and pressuring me to engage the municipality over their working space. Their concern is that it’s been long since their operations were suspended and all sectors have resumed their operations but theirs have remained suspended. We appeal to various partners who can help us put up structures at our working areas because if we do it alone, we might take long because of financial challenges,” he said.-@DubeMatutu
