Byo defies Chombo

News
BULAWAYO City Council has told Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo that it cannot be railroaded into removing vendors from undesignated sites in the central business district without alternative trading places.
Vendors demonstrate against the ban on vending in Bulawayo yesterday (Pic: KB Mpofu)
Vendors demonstrate against the ban on vending in Bulawayo yesterday (Pic: KB Mpofu)

BULAWAYO City Council has told Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo that it cannot be railroaded into removing vendors from undesignated sites in the central business district without alternative trading places.

BY NQOBILE BHEBHE

Mayor Martin Moyo told the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) he had written to Chombo telling him that his council would not meet the deadline he set to move the vendors.

This was before Woza took to the streets yesterday to demonstrate against the government’s countrywide ban on unregulated vending in urban areas.

Chombo had given vendors up to yesterday to vacate the areas, but the deadline was largely ignored by the traders who said the government should first deliver on its promise to create two million jobs.

“I do not support the idea of chasing vendors off the streets, let alone eradicating vending,” the mayor said in a memo to Woza. “I believe that for orderliness and cleanness of our city, we must manage vending.

“I have written to the Local Government minister advising him that we cannot meet the June 26 deadline as we need to identify new vending sites, plan and mobilise resources.”

Chombo has been criticised for imposing the deadline and attempting to use the army to drive out the vendors.

Woza members handed a petition to Moyo and asked him to tell Chombo that they would not leave the streets.

Magodonga Mahlangu (left) and Jenniffer Williams lead vendors and Woza members during a demonstration at Bulawayo City Hall against June 26 ban on urban street vending
Magodonga Mahlangu (left) and Jenniffer Williams lead vendors and Woza members during a demonstration at Bulawayo City Hall against June 26 ban on urban street vending

Jenni Williams, the Woza national co-ordinator, said in a two-paged petition that vendors were on the streets not by choice, but because they could not find jobs.

She said the majority of people were still not employed despite the election promise of millions of jobs by Zanu PF ahead of the 2013 elections, which the party won overwhelmingly.

Williams said Bulawayo had been negatively affected by Zanu PF policies since independence.

“Bulawayo has been directly and indirectly marginalised by the ruling Zanu PF policy-makers, beginning with the overt genocide Gukurahundi and then continuing with more subtle disenfranchisement, resulting in closing of factories and massive losses of jobs, pushing people who want to stay at home into the informal markets,” William’s petition reads.

“You must know that residents of Bulawayo consider minister Chombo as disrespectful of the role of the office of the mayor and the Bulawayo City Council as an autonomous body with elected and technical people who put Bulawayo at heart and are capable of practicing the culture of ubuntu in their day-to-day activities.”

Williams said should police start to violently remove vendors, women would suffer the most.

“We expect you (Moyo) to refuse to allow violence in your streets under any circumstances,” she added.

Bulawayo, under the control of the opposition since 2000, has in the past resisted Chombo’s orders, including refusing to handover its water section to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa).

Zinwa went on take over the management of water systems in most urban areas, but the government was forced to reverse the decision after a few months because the authority had no capacity.