Decision to lease 50 stalls to 3 people shot down

resolution to allocate the 50 stalls to P Njuzu Runganga, C  Nyambuya and S Kangombe caused an uproar at a full council meeting on Monday.   The matter had to be decided by a vote. Seventeen councillors voted against the allocation to three individuals while eight were in favour of the move. In the end the majority prevailed and agreed that market stalls in the CBD should be spruced up to attract vendors.
The majority of the councillors felt the resolution to allocate the 50 stalls to three people flew in the face of empowering the majority and suspected the deal was fraught with corruption.
The report insinuated that the three vending sites at Charge Office where there are 20 stalls, Warren Park Bus Terminus (20 stalls) and at Fourth Street Bus Terminus (10 stalls) were disused. But a check yesterday morning showed that vendors were actually using the stalls. Councillor Girisoti Mandere said the decision by the committee was flawed and suggested that the resolution to allocate the market space to the three be turned down.  The three want to use the stalls for a cloak room, a retail shop and a takeaway. He received overwhelming support from his colleagues who argued against the privatisation of public property.
“We should stop this. The market stalls are supposed to benefit the majority. We can not give the 50 stalls to only three people when genuine vendors are trading from the pavements,” he said.
In response to arguments by some councillors that the three had applied for the space and were therefore law abiding citizens, Clr Musa Macheza said that argument was tantamount to agreeing to lease out Town House “simply because somebody would have applied to lease it”. Chairman of the finance committee Clr Friday Muleya said the markets were disused and that leasing to three will ensure council would get “guaranteed revenue”. The stalls at Charge Office and Warren Park Bus Terminus are charged at US$380 per month while the 10 at Fourth Street cost US$190.
Clr Gwinyai Mbira said council should ensure that its markets were clean to attract vendors. Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Minister Ignatius Chombo recently urged the city to identify suitable spaces for vending arguing that vending was an integral part of the urban set-up.
Harare vendors always have running battles with city authorities who confiscate their goods accusing them of illegal vending.