adminVusumuzi Dube, Municipal Reporter
ONLY 19 vendors out of more than 6 000 operating in Bulawayo Central Business District are registered despite incentives that have been put in place by the local authority to improve the ease of doing business for traders.
This comes in the backdrop of reports that the local authority is still struggling to reach a consensus with vendors in the city over the legal points where they can operate from.
Addressing journalists on Wednesday, Bulawayo City Council Director of Housing and Community Services Mr Isaiah Magagula said the issue of haphazard vending in the city was still a big problem.
He said to date despite having 6 240 recognised vending bays in the city’s Central Business District just 19 were licensed.
“To date I can tell you that we have just 19 licensed vendors in the Central Business District, meaning the rest are operating illegally, which by all means is a disappointing figure considering the number of vendors in the city. In the western areas we have managed to license just 35 while we have 33 licensed airtime vendors.
“It is because of these figures that I must emphasise that as a local authority we will continue our raids to flush out illegal vendors. The only logical thing these vendors should do is to simply abide by the council by-laws and they won’t be raided,” said Mr Magagula.
He revealed that council was preparing a site for formal vending adjacent the Highlanders Clubhouse which will accommodate more than 600 vendors. He said they had anticipated to complete the site preparations soon but had been set back by a few logistical issues.
“The agreed original date (of completion) changed due to the fact that the whole area had to be surfaced. The projected number of vendors is now 600 from the initial 394. Painting of bays has started but has not been completed due to lack of yellow paint.
“Bay marking is in progress along Lobengula Street and Leopold Takawira Avenue where more vendors are set to be relocated. So far about 100 bays have been marked. Further to encourage vendors to comply with regulations council has approved rentals reduction and a write-off of all debts on informal traders operating in the CBD as at 6 January 2016,” said Mr Magagula.
He said council was also holding monthly stakeholders meetings with Zimra and other agencies to appraise them on progress in the vendor formalisation process.
“An all stakeholders meeting was held on Thursday 11 February 2016, with Zimra representatives. There was a general sense of appreciation for the information brought forward by Zimra and a promise of a healthy working relationship between the two parties was made,” he said.
Recently Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo held a meeting with the Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) over vending sites and Bulawayo municipal police “brutality”.
Vendors implored the local authority to take decisive steps in availing temporary vending sites within the CBD and restore public trust by monitoring actions by the municipal police who are accused of abusing street vendors.
Clr Moyo said they intend to promote order in space allocations in the city, by keeping records of how many people can be accommodated to perform vending activities in a given area of trade.
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu