BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) municipal police have pounced on illegal vendors in the central business district (CBD) to reportedly decongest the city centre.
Last week council police arrested illegal vendors and confiscated their goods, in a development described by Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association executive director Michael Ndiweni as unfortunate and causing problems for informal traders.
“We always frown upon running battles between traders and law enforcement authorities because they sometimes leave a trail of destruction of property and sometimes injuries,” Ndiweni told Southern Eye.
Appealing to the Bulawayo city fathers to provide space in the CBD for informal traders to sell their products to cushion them against the prevailing tough economic times, he said: “We also strongly call for dialogue to designate spaces for traders and find a lasting solution to this problem, our suggestions are in the public domain.”
Bulawayo is currently constructing the Nkulumane market which is set to reduce congestion in the CBD.
Ndiweni urged stakeholders to build business hubs like the Nkulumane market and make use of unoccupied buildings by allocating them to vendors.
“We are urging stakeholders to put their heads together and create new business hubs that will help decongest the city and even consider repurposing some facilities lying idle in malls like Entumbane and Nkulumane and create new and thriving business and hubs across the city,” he said.
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