Byo vendors push for more stalls
TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO
Vendors in Bulawayo are pushing for the construction of suitable workstations to reduce the number of unlicenced traders in the city’s central business district.
Like in other cities and towns, vendors in Bulawayo have invaded the central business district as they do not have adequate space to work from.
“There should be designated places where vendors sell their products at. We shouldn’t be seen all over the streets,” Bulawayo Upcoming Traders chairman Tholakele Mhlongo told Business Times.
“As Bulawayo Upcoming Traders Association we are not supporting informal traders that are always roaming around.”
She added: “We wish the Bulawayo City Council sees it right to put more vending stalls .We cannot have a first class city when of late we have seen the mushrooming of illegal vendors in undesignated areas like the 5th Avenue between Hebert Chitepo and Fort Street. The market area is dirty and stinking.”
Mhlongo said order and cleanliness must be maintained at all times for Bulawayo to return to its glory days.
“Bulawayo has always been clean, I have been a resident for the past 29 years and it has always been like that. What is happening nowadays whereby people go around littering everywhere is unacceptable. The city council must tighten its rules and regulations so that only vending sites are to be used.”
The Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association spokesperson, Michael Ndiweni concurred with Mhlongo on the need to decongest the central business district.
“Government and Bulawayo City Council must reconsider malls that are lying idle in Ntumbane Complex and Nkulumane. They must engage the owners of those facilities and come up with an agreement so that vendors can occupy those places,” he said.
A South African contractor and civil engineering firm Terracotta Trading (Private) Limited, has been engaged to upgrade the Basch Street Terminus into a regional public transport hub.
The US$60m project has resulted in vendors making way for its construction and is expected to be complete this year.
When complete, they will be designated vending bays.
