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Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
THE Bulawayo Chamber of Small to Medium Enterprises has made a passionate plea to residents to come together and raise funds for 220 entrepreneurs whose property was destroyed by a fire at Mutize Flea Market last week saying if left alone they may not recover from the disaster.
Coordinator of the chamber, Mr Nketha Mangoye Dlamini said it was critical to disaster-proof flea market sites saying it was important to help them recapitalise.
“I visited the site and it’s a huge disaster to say the least. We met with the City Fathers and the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises to discuss what we saw and how we can move forward. These people lost a lot of stock and cash and if left alone, they will not recover from this disaster because again, there was no insurance for these businesses,” said Mr Dlamini.
He highlighted that there was a need for combined efforts to help the affected traders who were providing a service to many people as they wait for the Government to make a position.
“We need an all-stakeholders approach to cushion these people from the effects of this disaster. We also think an external approach is important at this stage, we are going to document the total loss and have a conclusive write-up of our findings so that we engage with adequate information. I also think crowd-funding will help the situation so that these traders resume work,” he said.
Crowdfunding is a way of raising funds from as many people as possible via online platforms for any worthy cause.
Mr Dlamini said they were also keen to have issues around insurance discussed for the affected traders and the rest of the SMEs in general. He said subscribing to an insurance was going to mitigate the effects of the disaster.
“It is also an opportune time to spread information on the value of insuring goods for traders across the sector, it is also a wake-up call for the Ministry, the Chamber, and the traders as a whole on the need to have all goods they are selling insured.
“We want to bring in the need for insurers and even the responsible Ministries to educate SMEs on disaster risk reduction plans in the event of such occurrences. Do the SMEs have a fallback plan in such instances? Not often,” he said.
He also highlighted the urgent need for safer workspaces for SMEs from the construction phase.
“Now we have seen the importance of having safer work spaces for SMEs from the onset. If someone wants to assist traders with spaces to operate from it must be conducive, it must be safe, there must be fire and smoke detectors in these spaces so that before the fire brigade even arrives there is some effort to reduce adverse effects. There must be water sprinklers in these trading areas from the construction stage even during refurbishments,” he added.
A fortnight ago, another flea Market in Bulawayo, Pan Jap, was also reduced to ashes after two unknown men threw a suspected petrol bomb into the premises razing down all the property that was stored in the premises. It is, however, yet to be established if the two incidents are related. In January, a small-scale furniture manufacturing site in Mpopoma popularly known as Espamprikeni also burnt down in a suspected electrical fault triggered the fire.
The Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) executive director Micheal Ndiweni, however, said the incident must be declared a disaster as the vending sector had become a life-giving artery to a lot of families in the city and surrounding areas.
Many of the traders at Mutize Flea Market had stocked up on back-to-school items as schools are set to open tomorrow. @NyembeziMu.
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