MoU to improve livelihoods of Gwanda traders

The Jahunda Vendors and Traders Association (JVTA) is set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Gwanda Municipality, a move expected to improve the livelihoods of vendors in the gold mining town. Jahunda Vendors and Traders Association is partnering with the Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA). In an interview with The Vendors Voice, the chairperson of JVTA, Victor Gorejena, said the MoU comes at a time when vendors in Gwanda are experiencing several challenges.  “We are now at an advanced stage and we are working as the Gwanda vendors, Municipality of Gwanda as well as Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA),” said Gorejena. “As vendors in Gwanda we are facing a lot of challenges. The MoU seeks to address some of the challenges faced by the vendors for example, the Municipality bylaws are not accessible to the members of the public so the MoU will see the municipality addressing that and putting the bylaws online where we can access them any time we want.” He said the MoU will also address issues of vendors’ rights.  “The MoU also seeks to address issues of the rights of vendors. You know vendors were arrested in a degrading manner, so those are some of the issues that the MoU seeks to address,” said JVTA chairperson. Gorejena added that BVTA has also assisted the vendors in Gwanda to form a vendors’ Working Group. “There are various associations which make up the Working Group. As Gwanda vendors so far, we have managed to have an informal working group where we have various site committees because there was no one voice from the Gwanda vendors,” he said. He also added that the vendors had financial literacy and business management training as part of the efforts to equip them with skills to run their businesses.  “So far the council has been cooperative and they have been now including us in their meetings which is something we never experienced in Gwanda,” said Gorejena.

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