adminAdelaide Moyo and Clement Mukwasi Chronicle Reporters
ZAMBIAN traders who sell various sex enhancing products have taken Victoria Falls by storm as women and men are falling over each other to buy various creams and soaps. The traders, commonly known as Mzanga, Chewa for friend, conduct door to door sales of erotic pills, virginity soaps and skin lightening creams under the guise of selling clothes and tomatoes.
One such trader who identified herself as Mavis Banda said the love charms such as virginity soaps are selling fast as girls want to please their boyfriends. “We are overwhelmed by their orders. These charms work especially for girls who want to restore their virginity as a lot of them want to please their married boyfriends.
“I am very happy to sell my ‘wares’ here in Zimbabwe. People are friendly and they buy our stuff. We even keep our unsold goods in their houses because we have become their friends,” she said with a smile.
Scores of Zimbabwean vendors who operate at Comesa Flea Market, popularly known as Emaplankeni, are complaining that business is low as most people now prefer to buy from the Zambians.
Siboniso Ncube, who sells her wares at the market, said the Zambians were engaging in unfair trade practices and urged the local authority to take immediate action.
Another vendor, Munyaradzi Goto, said the Zambians conduct door to door sales while Zimbabweans will be stuck at the market as required by council.
Victoria Falls Mayor councillor Sifiso Mpofu said they were trying to control the situation.
“We are trying by all means to normalise the situation because locals have been losing business while Zambian traders have been gaining a lot. It’s not a bad thing for them to sell here, we are neighbours after all but they have to follow council by-laws as they do not sell from fixed places,” he said.
The mayor said some locals help the Zambian traders to evade municipal police.
derick.khumalo