Online Reporter
Vusumuzi Dube Deputy Radar Editor
THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has upheld a ban on the sale of odds and ends on street corners in the city centre, in a move aimed at restoring order in the central business district (CBD) and easing congestion along pavements.
The decision means traders dealing in items such as cell phone accessories, watches, sweets, belts, cigarettes and matches will no longer be allowed to operate on CBD corners, with council directing them to relocate to designated vending sites.
According to a report by the Director of Town Planning, Mr Wisdom Siziba, presented on March 9, 2026, council had in December last year resolved to discontinue the licensing of odds-and-ends traders in the CBD, with existing licences only remaining valid until expiry in 2026 and no renewals to be per-mitted. Only traders selling newspapers, periodicals, airtime and SIM cards will continue to be licensed in the city centre.
Council said the decision followed widespread complaints from formal businesses over the prolifera-tion of informal traders operating directly in front of shops selling similar goods, as well as concerns over blocked pavements and disrupted pedestrian movement.
“The move was necessitated by a public outcry on the increase of trading activities in odds and ends in front of formal shops which invariably sold the same commodities. Furthermore, there were infringe-ments of pedestrian traffic along the pavements,” reads the report.
“In view of the foregoing, Council was obliged to bring order and sanity in the CBD, hence the move.”
The ban was initially challenged by the Bulawayo MSMEs Working Group, the umbrella body repre-senting odds-and-ends traders, which appealed to council to reverse the decision, arguing that it was made without adequate consultation and would cripple the livelihoods of many licensed traders.
In its submission to council, the group said forcing informal traders into lettable shops was unrealistic because rentals were unaffordable for the majority.
“The rental charges for these shops are beyond the reach of the majority of informal traders, and such a forced transition would likely collapse their only source of livelihood in the current economic envi-ronment,” the group said.
The traders’ association noted that some lettable units require at least US$200 per month in rent, ex-cluding an additional US$200 deposit, making them inaccessible to most small traders.
The group also warned that the abrupt implementation of the ban would have severe socio-economic consequences for traders who had invested their limited resources in the businesses.
It had requested a six-month moratorium and proposed that council identify affordable council-owned spaces to accommodate affected traders.
“The Working Group notes, with serious concern, the continued passing of resolutions and policies that are either inconsistently enforced or inadvertently open floodgates to disorder including space baroning. We draw the local authority’s attention to examples such as the 5th Avenue situation, where a reso-lution to close the controversial trading space was passed but remains unimplemented, to the detri-ment of order and revenue collection,” reads the report.
Despite acknowledging that the notice period was inadequate, the Town Planning Department main-tained that immediate intervention was necessary to restore order in the city centre.
“Council acted in the manner in which it did because the situation obtaining then needed immediate action to bring order and sanity in the central business district,” the department said.
To cushion traders affected by the ban, council has identified alternative vending sites at Site seven next to the City Hall car park, the Highlanders site, and Site four at Lobengula Street and 4th Avenue, where odds-and-ends trading will be permitted.
The three locations are expected to absorb all traders who held valid 2025 licences.
Council resolved that the ban on odds-and-ends trading in the CBD should remain in force, while allow-ing traders currently licensed for odds and ends to switch to selling newspapers, periodicals, airtime and SIM cards if they wish to continue operating in the CBD.
Bongani Ndlovu