Thu, 06 Jul 2017 08:20:23 +0000
By VIOLET TEMBO
KITWE council police officers have been advised not to resort to beating up street vendors because they are human beings who deserve respect and better treatment. The appeal was made in Kitwe yesterday by Association of Vendors, Traders and Marketeers of Zambia (AVTMZ) president Fredrick Tembo. Speaking in an interview with Daily Nation yesterday at the Trade Fair grounds, Mr Tembo bemoaned recent beating of a vendor by council police who later died at the hospital.
Mr Tembo said that it was disheartening for the association to lose such a life in the central business district of a woman who was trying to earn a living. He said it was important for the local authority to engage its officers and orient them on the core business of the local authority instead of resorting to violence which was denting the image of the council.
“Our hearts are still bleeding and we are demanding that the truth of what transpired be made public. We have registered out disappointment with the council management and a meeting has been set for next week. “From the time vendors were evacuated from the streets, we have been receiving complaints of harassment and beatings by the council police officers manning the central business district,” said Mr Tembo.
He has since engaged association leaders from Kitwe whom he has directed to keep the vendors calm and wait for the process to take its due course. A 29 year old woman of Mulenga compound Anita Nakamba who used to sell chikanda died recently after she was allegedly brutally beaten by the Kitwe City Council Police officers when she demanded to be given back her K175 which the officers had confiscated. And Mr Tembo disclosed that vendors who participated in this year’s Zambia International Trade Fair (ZITF) beat the record, as the figure stood at 4,000 plus. Meanwhile, Mr Tembo has described the just ended ZITF as a success considering an increase in the number of exhibitors.
