adminStanely Mushava Features Writer
Bright orange and green structures have changed the face of the Fourth Street Flea Market. This is the site of the first city-commissioned vendor infrastructure following the eviction of peddlers who had choked up the streets of Harare over the first half of this year.
An occasional customer at the flea market, Collin Madzorere (31), said the new structures had a trendy look which added colour to his shopping experience.
“The new booths are well-decorated and the arrangement is convenient. I prefer buying stuff here than in the streets because the vendors are sociable and there is no likelihood of being conned,” Madzorere said.
“It is unlike the experience on the streets where someone can disappear with your change because they have nothing to lose and no territory to defend.
“This is regular set-up and if I am not happy with anything, I know exactly where to return,” he said.
Harare City Council partnered with Imhanya, an infrastructure solutions company, to introduce the box-park, which opened its gates on September 8 and potentially accommodates 196 vendors.
The box-park comprises six containers made of recycled shipping material. Four of them have been let to 16 vendors.
The remaining two containers are currently being used as administration offices, a convenience store which sells food, airtime and other quick wares as well as a guarded cloakroom where goods are kept after hours.
Imhanya director Mr Ket Patel said the development provides a dignified environment for vendors and while regularising their trade.
“For vendors to operate here, they must be registered and up-to-date with their subscriptions to the city council,” Mr Patel said.
“We then provide the infrastructure for them to operate in a clean, secure and hassle-free environment.”
Some compartments are still to be let while others have been given up by vendors who allegedly failed to keep up with the rentals.
Vendors pay daily rentals of $2,50 to Imhanya, in addition to $1,25 daily subscription fees to the Harare City Council.
This compares favourably with other flea market tables at established sites across the city. A table at Avondale Flea Market costs up to $15 a day.
A table at Harare Central Police Station (Charge Office) Flea Market costs $6 a day while traders at Mupedzanhamo pay up to $150 a month to a cartel of table owners who in turn only pay $60 to the municipality each month.
Some of the vendors feel that the new rates are unsustainable because the Fourth Street site is not yet as busy as the other sites.
“We hail this move to facelift the flea market but the truth is business is still slow here for us to sustain the rates,” said Tendai Makoni (42) who traded for four years at the site before Imhanya took over.
Makoni, however, expressed optimism that the design overhaul may be able to lure customers in the long-run.
“It might be too quick to conclude. Maybe the place will become popular enough to justify the rates as more customers get to know about it,” Makoni said.
Fellow vendor Lucia Takadiyi (42) feels that the council should give a rate holiday to the traders until business picks up.
“As you can see, there are hardly any customers milling around here, like you would see in Mbare, Copacabana or Charge Office. We hardly sell anything. One can go for a whole week with only one pair of shoes sold,” she said.
“So if I use money from that one pair, what do I have left? What about my own expenses at home? The council should have considered the rough patch informal traders are going through,” she said.
Mr Patel said efforts are currently afoot to bring micro-finance and insurance companies to some of the booths to guarantee the sustainability of the vendors’ operations.
“The idea is also to bring local manufacturers in touch with the vendors as opposed to the current situation whereby vendors get most of their products from South Africa. Buying Zimbabwe is part of the comprehensive value proposition,” Mr Patel said.
He said modular container toilets, situated near the flea market, will be open in a few days’ time.
A customer, Vitalis Manjoro (71), said the current design is fresh and trendy but there was need to work around ways of reducing the direct exposure of clothes on sale to bad weather.
The tables and shelves are situated under corrugated structures which are open on the sides.
Bisent Gareta (20), a vendor at the flea market, said their old tents protected their wares from bad weather, but the current arrangement exposes the clothes and shoes which they sell to sun damage.
Imhanya marketing manager Ndomupeishe Chari said canopies for redressing the problem would be ready in two weeks.
Harare City Council spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme said the council looks to roll out more vendor booths at strategic sites.
“We are assessing the viability of the current arrangement. Once we are satisfied, we will get more partners on board and roll out more decent infrastructure for vendors,” Mr Chideme said.
There may be some teething problems at the flea market but is seems to be faring much better than the other designated vendor sites where business has totally failed to take off.
For example the 100 wooden selling tables at the corner of Cripps and Seke Road commonly known as Coke corner were all unoccupied when The Herald Review visited the site on Tuesday.
Mr Chideme said the decentralisation of vending sites will not be reversed as there are plans to make all the sites viable.
“The city is concerned with maintaining trafficability so we cannot congest all the markets in one place.
“People are not going to those places because they are not markets yet but once we have set up, people will be drawn by the services in place,” he said.
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