News / National
Bulawayo vendors lash out at council's archaic by-laws, wants city to be like Harare
24 Oct 2018 at 14:11hrs | Views
Bulawayo vendors and informal traders here have taken aim at Bulawayo city fathers for simply trying to put cosmetic amendments to the existing archaic by-laws.
The Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) has for the past three years been advocating for the modernisation of the council by-laws which they said were enacted in 1976, hence do not sufficiently apply more than four decades later.
As part of their advocacy in which they exposed the primitive by-laws, the vendors and informal traders through BVTA in conjunction with the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in April this year launched a research titled "Bulawayo Informal Sector Policy Research" project.
Perhaps buckling under pressure, the city fathers last month flighted a notice titled "Notice of proposed amendment to Bulawayo (hawkers and street vendors) By-law 1976".
"Bulawayo City Council hereafter referred to as council proposed to repeal Bulawayo hawkers and street vendors by-laws and replace them with Bulawayo City council (Hawkers, vendors, flea markets, food carts and stall/table holders) by- laws 2018," reads a notice signed by Town Clerk Christopher Dube.
The notice also indicated that copies of the proposed by-law will be open for inspection at council offices and at all council district offices during working hours between 8am to 1645 hours from September to October 2018.
"Any objections thereto may be lodged with the town clerk whose offices are located at City Hall, corner Fife Street and L Takawira, Bulawayo on or before November 2018," he said.
However, the vendors and informal traders, who have since managed to engage the city fathers over the matter, have expressed reservations on the new development.
"We engaged them, we had a meeting with them and shared the draft. They appeared to support it. In terms of drafting, it's done by council technocrats who appeared to be putting lipstick on a pig," Ndiweni said.
Ndiweni said they have since completed a document containing by-law amendment proposals which they seek to submit to the city fathers.
"We have thus engaged BCC, government, informal sector and decided to propose an Informal Sector Model By-Law that is anchored on a rights-based approach," Ndiweni said.
"We are submitting the proposal next week, reason being that BCC put a public notice that they are amending this by-law on August 31 this year, and deadline for objections is November 4, so we are using this opportunity besides objecting to their amendments but also to propose a law.
"Their proposed amendments merely change titles or headings not addressing compelling questions of the informal economy," he said.
Ndiweni said the local authority's outdated by-laws have been overtaken by events considering that there is an expanded Bill of Rights that guarantees Economic Rights particularly section 24.
"These laws also were put in place during the colonial period where the white minority government dehumanised blacks and prohibited them from operating on even city pavements, thus the 2013 Constitution brings a new paradigm, they deal with such archaic and oppressive pieces of legislation," Ndiweni said.
The vendors and informal traders' director also revealed that research has shown that 59 percent of informal traders were not aware of the by-laws governing them.
He added: "We have carried a research working with NUST to understand Institutional Complex governing the informal sector and we discovered these inconsistencies with
the Constitution of Zimbabwe, also that there are no meaningful efforts to educate informal traders about these laws, 59 percent of the informal traders in Bulawayo are not aware of these laws."
Ndiweni also said the research has pointed out that about 13 percent of the informal traders are in the sector because they are driven by passion for entrepreneurship and hence laws must be reformed to enable them to conduct their business with minimum hindrances.
He further noted that these primitive laws have been increasing rights violations in the sector, with a point in case being in 2016, where 17 percent of rights violations were recorded in the informal sector.
The Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) has for the past three years been advocating for the modernisation of the council by-laws which they said were enacted in 1976, hence do not sufficiently apply more than four decades later.
As part of their advocacy in which they exposed the primitive by-laws, the vendors and informal traders through BVTA in conjunction with the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in April this year launched a research titled "Bulawayo Informal Sector Policy Research" project.
Perhaps buckling under pressure, the city fathers last month flighted a notice titled "Notice of proposed amendment to Bulawayo (hawkers and street vendors) By-law 1976".
"Bulawayo City Council hereafter referred to as council proposed to repeal Bulawayo hawkers and street vendors by-laws and replace them with Bulawayo City council (Hawkers, vendors, flea markets, food carts and stall/table holders) by- laws 2018," reads a notice signed by Town Clerk Christopher Dube.
The notice also indicated that copies of the proposed by-law will be open for inspection at council offices and at all council district offices during working hours between 8am to 1645 hours from September to October 2018.
"Any objections thereto may be lodged with the town clerk whose offices are located at City Hall, corner Fife Street and L Takawira, Bulawayo on or before November 2018," he said.
However, the vendors and informal traders, who have since managed to engage the city fathers over the matter, have expressed reservations on the new development.
"We engaged them, we had a meeting with them and shared the draft. They appeared to support it. In terms of drafting, it's done by council technocrats who appeared to be putting lipstick on a pig," Ndiweni said.
"We have thus engaged BCC, government, informal sector and decided to propose an Informal Sector Model By-Law that is anchored on a rights-based approach," Ndiweni said.
"We are submitting the proposal next week, reason being that BCC put a public notice that they are amending this by-law on August 31 this year, and deadline for objections is November 4, so we are using this opportunity besides objecting to their amendments but also to propose a law.
"Their proposed amendments merely change titles or headings not addressing compelling questions of the informal economy," he said.
Ndiweni said the local authority's outdated by-laws have been overtaken by events considering that there is an expanded Bill of Rights that guarantees Economic Rights particularly section 24.
"These laws also were put in place during the colonial period where the white minority government dehumanised blacks and prohibited them from operating on even city pavements, thus the 2013 Constitution brings a new paradigm, they deal with such archaic and oppressive pieces of legislation," Ndiweni said.
The vendors and informal traders' director also revealed that research has shown that 59 percent of informal traders were not aware of the by-laws governing them.
He added: "We have carried a research working with NUST to understand Institutional Complex governing the informal sector and we discovered these inconsistencies with
the Constitution of Zimbabwe, also that there are no meaningful efforts to educate informal traders about these laws, 59 percent of the informal traders in Bulawayo are not aware of these laws."
Ndiweni also said the research has pointed out that about 13 percent of the informal traders are in the sector because they are driven by passion for entrepreneurship and hence laws must be reformed to enable them to conduct their business with minimum hindrances.
He further noted that these primitive laws have been increasing rights violations in the sector, with a point in case being in 2016, where 17 percent of rights violations were recorded in the informal sector.
Source - dailynews
