Bulawayo Mayor David Coltart has called for alternative trading sites to be made available before authorities act against street vendors at Fifth Avenue, while urging residents to help identify people illegally dumping building rubble around the city.
Speaking at the 341st full council meeting at the Bulawayo City Council chambers, Coltart said the city needed to restore order at Fifth Avenue while protecting the livelihoods of vendors who depend on their businesses to support their families.
He said the government had directed the city to carry out a major clean-up exercise, particularly at Fifth Avenue, where informal trading has affected businesses operating in the area.
“You are aware that the government has issued a directive that there will be a massive clean up, in particular on 5th avenue. Our desire is to clean up our city, the nonsense at 5th avenue needs to be sorted out. We would want to see an orderly city,” Coltart said.
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He said businesses in the area had complained that they were struggling to operate because of the congestion caused by vending.
“I’m sure that all of you like me are continually harassed by people particularly in the formal sector who have businesses in 5th avenue who cannot run their businesses because their businesses are literally flooded out and none of us need any persuasion that law and order must be restored,” he said.
However, Coltart said the council needed to provide alternative trading spaces before relocating vendors.
He identified Nkulumane and Egodini as possible trading locations and called for work at Bactus to be expedited. He also said about 10,000 vending sites across the city needed to be advertised so that vendors knew where they could operate.
“This is an appeal to the vendors themselves. As you know they are alternative venues for vendors to go and they are prospective alternate venues and it is critically important that those alternate venues be made available as quickly as possible,” he said.
Coltart said the relocation process should take account of the number of women who depend on vending for their livelihoods.
“This isn’t just a gun to their heads these are our fellow residents and 64 percent of the vendors are women and many of them are single mothers they need what they do to raise their children to also pay school fees so we cannot deal with them in a harsh way but it needs to be something that is symbiotic were we say very clearly with government that we want to restore order but at the same time our own management must be efficient,” he said.
He said the council needed to communicate clearly with vendors about available sites and ensure the alternatives were accessible before enforcement measures were taken.
Turning to illegal dumping, Coltart urged residents and businesses, particularly those in the construction industry, to stop disposing of building rubble in undesignated areas.
He said large quantities of construction waste were being dumped around the city, including beyond its boundaries, and called on residents to help the council identify those responsible.
“In terms of cleansing this is more of an appeal to the formal sector, in particular the building sector in our city and others. It is very clear that there is large-scale dumping taking place and it’s not by small operators, it is often by builders who take building rubble and instead of doing the right thing and taking to the dumpsite they are dumping large quantities of rubble,” Coltart said.
He cited the area near King Mzilikazi’s memorial as an example of the problem, saying large amounts of building rubble had been dumped just outside the city boundaries.
Coltart said there was an increasing trend of trucks and other vehicles disposing of waste in unauthorised areas.
He urged councillors and residents to take photographs of vehicles involved in illegal dumping and submit the evidence to the council’s cleansing department for investigation and possible prosecution.
“I call on councilors, I call on the public. We have cell phones with cameras. I make an appeal to the public that we get photographs of these vehicles so that our cleansing department can investigate and prosecute those responsible for that,” he said.
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