Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has been urged to explore leasing informal markets to various associations to provide vendors with a sense of ownership, enabling them to improve their markets.
This recommendation comes from a study conducted by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), which sought to identify the requirements, prospects, and deficiencies in BCC’s urban planning efforts related to the informal sector.
The survey also aimed to provide insights into social, economic, and viable policy opportunities to enhance livelihoods, sanitation, and support for informal traders.
The city council is currently focused on providing designated vending bays to informal traders to maintain order around the CBD.
This has been necessitated by the increasing informality of the economy due to the closure of industries and formal companies.
Informal traders have been allocated vending bays at Egodini bus terminus, 5th Avenue, and Bhaktas in the city center, with more vending areas under construction.
FES noted that the council is overwhelmed and sometimes struggles to maintain vending bays. Leasing these bays could allow vendors to take care of their operating environments.
“There is a need for BCC to develop markets. The council can explore leasing informal markets to associations to provide vendors with a sense of ownership, enabling them to build or make improvements to their markets,” the report stated.
“A case in point is the Nkulumane Vegetable Wholesale Market, established by the BVTA as best practice. This recommendation responds to the council’s incapacity to maintain the established vending bays.”
The study also established the need to invest in developing state-of-the-art markets and refurbishing licensed bays, providing more sanitation facilities, access to water, and enhanced security to attract more vendors to regularize.
“In addition, the establishment of facilities for children who accompany their parents to the streets should be considered. There is a need to introduce mixed markets that incorporate formal businesses like fast food outlets, sports betting, and public transport ranks where vendors and human traffic can converge,” the report suggested.
“This will enable the council to provide affordable vending bays offset by bigger businesses. These would go a long way in decongesting the streets as they directly address the pull factors that have encouraged street vending at certain sites.”
The report further highlighted the need to strengthen transparency and accountability, combat corruption involving confiscated goods, and ensure a paper trail in handing confiscated goods to the ZRP by municipal police.
