News / Local
No mercy for illegal vendors - Byo mayor
02 Dec 2015 at 06:32hrs | Views
Bulawayo mayor Martin Moyo has justified moves to evict illegal vendors within the central business district saying the local authority gave them adequate time to formalise their operations.
On Tuesday, vendors operating along Bulawayo city pavements fought running battles with municipal police, as they resisted being moved to designated sites, which they described as inadequate and not user-friendly.
"They should now move to the places where they were relocated to. It can no longer be random like before," he said.
"We have been quite generous and accommodating, but there is also a time to take decisive action and it cannot be said we did not give them time. We gave them ample time to register and find places to trade from. We think that time has been adequate.
Now everybody should go where they should work from."
Bulawayo has more than 6 000 unoccupied vending bays, which were deserted after traders noticed low customer volumes since the bays were located in secluded areas.
The informal traders accused council authorities of being corrupt, as some of them were said to be leasing out bays at a higher charges.
On Tuesday, vendors operating along Bulawayo city pavements fought running battles with municipal police, as they resisted being moved to designated sites, which they described as inadequate and not user-friendly.
"They should now move to the places where they were relocated to. It can no longer be random like before," he said.
Now everybody should go where they should work from."
Bulawayo has more than 6 000 unoccupied vending bays, which were deserted after traders noticed low customer volumes since the bays were located in secluded areas.
The informal traders accused council authorities of being corrupt, as some of them were said to be leasing out bays at a higher charges.
Source - Southern Eye
