townships

Bulawayo City Council (BCC) announced that it will use vendors and informal traders databases to relocate vendors from the Central Business District (CBD) to various trading sites in the townships, the relocation is meant to decentralize services to vendors and informal traders and de-congest the CBD and help curb the spread of the corona virus which has claimed lives of thousands of people in the world. The hardest hit are the vendors and informal traders who have been eking their livelihoods from the Fifth Avenue market in Bulawayo. Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) hopes BCC will look at their plight and ensure that they are well serviced in the new system. Vendors and informal traders in the townships have been complaining about inaccessibility of services and BCC has not been paying attention to their grievances due to centralized service provision. The relocation process has a potential to create opportunities for vendors and informal traders since farm produces and other goods will be brought closer to them. This will reduce transport costs to town, reduce harassment of women i.e. sextortion, muggings in the early morning when commuting to town and bringing products closer to them is a positive move. The move also ensures that women will not be queuing for buses in light of the COVID19 induced social distancing, where people encouraged to avoid crowds. Commenting on the relocation process, Mr Nqobile Ndlovu, Lady Rose Founder and a member of BVTA said that the strategy of relocating people to the townships is ideal and the council must identify and own all the markets and bus terminuses which have been leased to individuals and collect revenue. BVTA has been advocating for Inclusive City Planning and Designing, which calls for strategic and permanent structures for vendors and informal traders, not temporary holding places that lead to vendors being pushed around when local authorities deem necessary. BVTA has already designed and submitted prototypes to the local authority, with proposed models for three townships namely, Emganwini, Cowdray Park and Nkulumane. BVTA has also lobbied for decentralized licensing including medical health certificates for those handling food as vendors have been made to commute from townships to the CBD and to get these licences. Proposals have been made to ensure that BCC creates accounts for vendors and informal traders to be able to pay at home.