Vendors and informal traders living with disabilities in Bulawayo are among the worst affected by the national lockdown, as many of them have been left unemployed with no stable income to feed themselves and their families.
One member of Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) living with disability, Mr Jifile Dube says he is struggling to make ends meet as he depended on selling vegetables and airtime recharge cards at Mpopoma.
“We have no idea how we are going to resume operating because we are now eating into our capital,” Dube told Vendors Voice.
“We did not get adequate time to prepare for the lockdown and the little capital that we have been holding onto is soon going to be exhausted as we are now using it to buy food. We appeal for assistance,” Dube continued.
Vendors living with disabilities also face challenges in accessing subsidised mealie meal as their physical limitations do not allow them to scramble with the able bodied to buy the scarce staple.
“We wish the government could come up with mechanisms to assist us and conditions that can enable us to work under lockdown measures so that we can be able earn a living,” Dube said.