Fri, 12 May 2017 12:34:00 +0000
By JACK MAPAPAYI
SOLWEZI municipal council has given street vendors a seven day ultimatum to relocate.
The move is aimed at bringing sanity to the mining town and pave way for the expansion of the independence avenue.
Council public relations officer Thandiwe Tembo told the Daily Nation in an interview that vendors trading in Kyawama area would relocated to the old Kyawama market while those trading in the town centre would go to the main market.
She disclosed that Kyawama area has about 555 vendors and that 437 spaces have been created for the vendors to move to. “This is a final warning and vendors have been given up to 17th May, 2017 which is next week. After that, we don’t want to see any vendor on our streets,” Ms. Tembo said.
She said the relocation of street vendors would be done in two phases, adding that traders dealing with food staffs would be relocated to the Solwezi main market shelter while traders selling second-hand clothes would be moved to the back of the main market.
She, however, said the space being created for the vendors was just temporal, stating that as soon as the construction of the modern market was completed, traders would be given permanent places.
“You may be aware that recently there was a ground breaking for the construction of the modern market by the Minister of Local Government and Housing. So, once the market is done, we expect all traders to move to the market,” she added.
Ms Tembo has since appealed to the venders not to wait until the council came in to move them using minimum force but adhere to the instructions.
