THE Bulawayo City Council says it will engage vendors and traders on how best to come up with solutions which may help curb illegal selling of goods in the city.
This comes after repeated efforts by police and the local authority to raid illegal vendors and traders have over the years not yielded results.
Speaking at a church service to celebrate the 79th anniversary of the declaration of Bulawayo as a city on Sunday, mayor Solomon Mguni said the council has realised that illegal activities were increasing due to economic hardships in the country.
“The Covid-19 pandemic left a lot of people jobless and vulnerable without any sources of income, hence the mushrooming of illegal activities in the city. We will work on engaging illegal traders and vendors so that we curb illegal activities. We are aware of the challenges that our people have but we have to balance the informal trading while also keeping the ambience of the city.
“According to the 2023 budget that we recently announced, there is need to rectify the proliferation of illegal activities in the city as these have affected the outlook of the city,” said Mguni.
Mguni said engaging vendors and traders will enhance council’s vision of being a smart city by 2024.
“We all have been calling for improved services and development in the city of Bulawayo. My council recognises that despite facing financial shortages we have to implement innovative strategies that will enable us to achieve our vision of being a smart city by the year 2024.
“I am aware that the task before us is not easy so we are appealing to residents and various stakeholders to work with us. We all have a role to play to ensure Bulawayo prospers so it’s not about what the council can do but what everyone can do for the betterment of the city,” said Mguni.
