The Sunday News
Sharon Chimenya, Masvingo Correspondent
LOCAL authorities have been warned against harassing women and confiscating their wares in urban areas as that was disempowering them and dampening their efforts to fend for families.
In all towns and cities, there has been a rise in cases of municipal police chasing vendors, especially women in Central Business Districts (CBDs) arresting them and in some cases to confiscate their wares.
Women Affairs, Community Development, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Minister Dr Sithembiso Nyoni, speaking during the women in production meeting in Masvingo last week said the issue of women being harassed and selling in the streets should come to an end.
“I am particularly concerned about the harassment of female fruit and vegetable traders whose products are being taken away by the municipal police in different local authorities. In as much as I am happy about the clubs and what they are doing, I am also concerned about the women in the streets.
I was talking to the Minister of State (Ezra Chadzamira) that we need to come together and see what we can do. SMEDCO (Small and Medium Enterprises Development Corporation) is mandated to build infrastructure and the Permanent Secretary has programmes in which this needs to be done. This should come to an end. What should come to an end is women selling all over and women being harassed on the streets,” she said.
Cde Ezra Chadzamira
Dr Nyoni said provincial officers in her ministry will liaise with the local authorities in mapping the way forward in solving the problem of those selling in the streets and urged the women organise themselves so that it would be easier when allocating spaces for trading.
“My officers will come to you so that you help us talk to the local authorities that we are on our way towards solving this problem together but in the meantime, I am not happy to see women being harassed. I think women are on the streets selling because they are making a living for their children and so let’s treat them with dignity rather than harassment.
If we give them work space, the women are not fond of going all over, they are making a statement that they need somewhere where they can sell their wares in a dignified way.”
Meanwhile, Dr Nyoni said in line with the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), the ministry has embarked on a programme to ensure that grassroots women are empowered. She said business training skills have been offered to more than 1 500 women across the country.
“I am really proud to say that it is possible to lift women from grassroots up to the national and international level. All we need to do is to continue with the programme of bringing stakeholders together so that these women by the end of this year would have moved a step ahead.
Another programme we have is of women empowerment clubs. Empowerment clubs in the ministry are there to train you on leadership, to train you also to ensure that you get to the heights that you want to go. We are training clubs in business skills, financial literacy, value addition, constitution making, leadership among others and have been offered to over 1 500 women in about 300 clubs,” she said.
