Nyamhunga vendors moved

Walter Nyamukondiwa Kariba Bureau
KARIBA Municipality has started moving vendors from the old Nyamhunga vegetable market to a temporary site. Vendors have however, condemned the new site, saying it lacks basic amenities like sheds to protect them from the vagaries of weather, and toilets.

The move was necessitated by the need to revamp the old market using devolution funds. The move has been met with mixed reactions amid allegations that it was a ploy to disenfranchise current stallholders.

The stallholders allege that council had sold the land to a major retail chain to build a supermarket. But, this has been dismissed as false by council officials.

Kariba Municipality started allocating stands in the new market yesterday and at least 60 vendors were expected to get space in line with social distancing regulations.

It had been designed to accommodate at least 200 vendors before the Covid-19 outbreak.

Small and Medium Enterprises Chamber Kariba district chairperson Mr Alexio Sabau said the move to upgrade the old market was welcome, but bemoaned that vendors were being left in the open without shelter from the sun and rain.

“Unfortunately people are out here in the sun where they have nowhere to put their stock when they go home,” he said. “It would have been better if people had shelter from the weather because Kariba is a very hot and dry area, which also affects the fresh produce that vendors sell.”

Some vendors said the relocation was not transparent as some of the beneficiaries were not on the list of people operating from the old market.

Others said the new site was dusty and not fit for their business.