A group of unknown people were parcelling out bays to informal traders on Fifth Avenue in Bulawayo between Robert Mugabe and Josiah Tongogara on Thursday sparking concerns that another illegal vending site would be emerging in the Central Business District (CBD).
This exercise occurred without the knowledge of the Bulawayo City Council (BCC), which has been unable to control informal traders who are selling various goods across the CBD while flouting city by-laws.
According to residents who witnessed the exercise on Thursday, the unidentified people were marking the bays with buckets and crates.
When reached for comment about that move, Bulawayo Deputy Mayor, Councillor Edwin Ndlovu told CITE that the local authority was unaware of the marked bays and who was behind it.
Meanwhile, Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) Executive Director, Michael Ndiweni said whoever was allocating those bays was violating the by-laws as BCC was the only authority with that mandate.
“Any other person whosoever grants themselves authority to do that they are breaking by-laws. Most of the time when the BCC is allocating bays, officials tend to communicate with the legitimate associations that represent informal traders in the city of Bulawayo,” he said, noting that BVTA was unaware new bays were being allocated.
Ndiweni remarked there were individuals who believed they were “space barons” and could allocate space in the city.
“These people who are allocating the bays are breaking the by-laws and clandestinely doing this. We abhor such acts because they create chaos and anarchy in the city because it means anyone can allocate themselves spaces anywhere in the city,” said the BVTA boss.
“I don’t think that will be fair to other members of the community if we are all over the city as traders, seating everywhere and allocating ourselves spaces.”
Ndiweni added informal traders had to be aware that they share the city with other people.
“If people are doing this in my view they could be space barons who are actually undermining efforts that have been made through the Bulawayo Informal Sector Working Group to bring everyone together and at least have a bit of organised way of managing informality in the city,” Ndiweni said.
