Informal traders urged to form associations

Providence Moyo

Informal traders and vendors have been encouraged to join hands and form alliances that  would position them to get help in their quest to have their grievances addressed expeditiously by authorities.

Speaking during a meeting held in Bulawayo  under the theme ‘Community dialogue with informal traders and vendors’ which was hosted by Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) in conjunction with Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET), Matabeleland Focal Person for VISET, Mr Prosper Masibi asserted that “there is power in associations” in comparison to individualism which does very little to elicit responses to vendors’ concerns and grievances from the powers that be. 

Masibi further stressed that informal traders stand to achieve more as consortiums which speak with one weighty voice that local authorities are bound to find hard to ignore.

Masibi however challenged informal traders and vendors to embrace the culture of supply  and demand and jettison the culture of demanding from the Council without paying their dues and playing their part as responsible citizens.
“Informal traders should appreciate dutifully paying their rates to the council so that the local authority is empowered to  ably supply them with services as well as address all their grievances.

We cannot condone the unfortunate tendency to avoid paying our debts to the Council and at the same time expect them to deliver quality services on time and effectively. It is our duty to capacitate them to deliver quality and consistent services, ” he said. 

Vendors who attended the meeting had an opportunity to chronicle the various challenges they face in their trade. Prominent among their complaints was the problem of a dearth of vending bays and  lack of representation of the sector at influential fora such as Council.

One of the vendors who identified himself as Tinashe  Gonzo bemoaned the lack of informal trader representation in the local authorities and said that there is need for  some Councillors to be drawn from the Informal sector to enhance representation and promote informal trader agendas in the local authority. He challenged informal traders to throw their hats into the ring of local authority elections.

” I feel the reason why there is a lack of representation of Informal traders and vendors in local authorities is  because there is no Councillor who comes from our sector, so nobody speaks on our behalf.”

Another vendor from Cowdray Park who could not be drawn to divulge his identity appealed to the local authority to give first preference to owners of goods when selling confiscated goods.
Crackdowns on vendors and subsequent confiscation of goods by the Bulawayo City Council are a common sight in the Central Business District.