By Chipo Gudhe
Kwekwe City Council has raised concern over vending bay barons who hoard stalls and re-lease them to other vendors for profit, saying the practice is disadvantaging genuine vendors as the city moves to enforce Government’s directive against illegal vending in central business districts.
Mayor Albert Zinhanga said council was not seeking to drive vendors out of the city but wanted to restore order by ensuring traders operated from designated vending areas.
He said some people were occupying multiple vending bays or securing stalls and renting them out, effectively denying other vendors access to council-provided trading space.
“We do not have too many vendors, but we have people who hoarded vending bays and renting them out or using them and these only serve one person,” Zinhanga said.
“We want to restore order, let’s stop taking vending bays and re-lease them. That’s illegal.”
The mayor was speaking on Wednesday during a stakeholders meeting at Gulez Gardens as council stepped up efforts to relocate vendors operating from undesignated areas in the CBD.
Zinhanga said council had opted for dialogue rather than force as it implements the Government directive requiring vendors to operate from designated areas.
He said traders operating around Spar, Pick n Pay supermarkets and other undesignated points in the CBD should move to approved vending sites.
“Kwekwe City Council is not chasing away vendors but we are only complying with a Government directive that’s saying let people operate from designated areas,” he said.
“As long as vendors comply, we will not react like other cities which are using force, hence we chose dialogue,” he said.
The Government directive followed concerns over illegal vending and congestion in CBDs, with authorities ordering vendors to move to designated trading spaces.
However, as Kwekwe moves to comply, the council says the problem is being compounded by individuals who control vending bays and allegedly profit by leasing them to other traders.
Zinhanga said the city wanted to restore order to the CBD while ensuring that designated markets had the necessary infrastructure, including ablution facilities.
“We need to restore order to the levels that we know Kwekwe used to be like. We want to make sure where there is a market there is proper ablution facilities,” he said.
Council Director of Health Dr Murwira backed the relocation drive, saying vendors operating in the CBD should move to designated markets.
The city has 27 markets, 1 232 vending bays and two farmers’ markets, which council says can accommodate the majority of vendors.
Authorities have also introduced new operating hours for traders.
Vendors operating in the CBD are required to trade between 6am and 6pm, while those at residential markets can operate from 6am to 8pm.
Dr Murwira urged vendors to strictly observe the new regulations and operating hours as council seeks to bring order to informal trading.
Zinhanga said council would continue engaging vendors as it implements the directive, stressing that the objective was to create an orderly trading environment rather than eliminate informal livelihoods.
Source: Kwekwe targets vending bay barons — The Midlands Observer
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