Council meets over Tariffs and Penalty Fees
Informal traders from Bulawayo have implored Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to engage stakeholders in the informal sector with issues affecting them before making major decisions that have a bearing on their daily trade.
Infocus News
This emanated during a Zoom meeting facilitated by Women’s Institute for Leadership Development in a bid to assess the progress that the City Council has made in terms of providing vending bays for traders and the compliance to by-laws passed by City Fathers.
Jacqueline Ndlovu pleaded with the local authorities to engage traders on issues that affect them.
“Why won’t City Council engage us so that we can converge and discuss issues that affect us? What I want to know is – who did the City Council consult before passing these laws that they have made. We are asking the Council to engage us before making major decisions,” she said.
Another informal trader, Pretty Mpofu said the Council should visit communities and educate vendors especially the elderly as most of them were not able to get information from social media on laws that are introduced.
“The elderly in our communities do not understand social media at all. Even if you try to explain to them some of the changes that we read on social media they will not understand and will end up finding themselves at the wrong side of the law. Most of them still do not know that selling by the street corners now comes with a hefty fine because they do not have that knowledge,” said Mpofu.
Representing the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) Housing and Community Services department, Mrs. S Pedzi said the process of redesigning vending bays was overwhelming for the Council although the City was working on the modalities.
“COVID-19 caught us unaware, there is so much work that needs to be done in terms of preparing proper vending bays. We have finished working on the Sekusile vending bays and we are ready to allocate them to those with licenses.”
“Due to COVID-19, some vending bays have been reduced in order to promote social distancing. The number of vending bays was reduced from nearly 15 000 to 6000 in order to cater for COVID-19,” she said.
There has been an emergence of hawkers who are in the business of selling vegetables from their car boots. Another representative from the City Council Mr. T. Dube said this was unlawful and encouraged people to comply with the bylaws that are currently in place.
“I have seen quite a number of people selling fruits and vegetables from their car boots. Most of them even park their cars in areas that have not been designated as suitable for vending. They even generate litter in town and I urge people to follow the law and desist from unlawful practices,” said Dube.
Mr. Michael Ndiweni, the Executive Director at Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association said the emergence of unlicensed vendors was an indication of how people had adopted other means to survive.
“This is an indication that people are doing anything they can in order to survive. I think there should be a dialogue with individuals who are selling goods in their cars. People have seen another way that can make it possible for survival and that is an issue that needs to be looked into as a matter of urgency. People should strike a balance between making ends meet and how to comply with the law at the same time,” said Ndiweni.
Informal traders also called on the local authority to engage them before making major decisions that affect their livelihoods.