It is a chilly morning in the high density suburb of Lobengula East in Bulawayo and people are pursuing different activities with some young boys sitting at bridges and others playing plastic balls like in any other street in many towns.
However, mobile vendors also use that time to sell their goods around the high density area. It is not an easy task.
I have resorted to exchanging bottles with my goods like Maputi and zap nax said one mobile vendor who identified himself as Thulani. They have resorted to mobile vending because of the competition at local markets.
I used to sell my products at Egodini market but then a lot of people have invaded the place so I have to move with the products, selling them or bartering them with empty bottles that we sell afterwards to those who need them, he said.
After going around the suburbs we then go to some shopping centres to sell our bottles for cash, another mobile vendor, Ndlovu said.
NewsDay managed to visit one of the shopping centres in Magwegwe North at around five oclock and a number of vendors were seen selling and bartering their goods.
At the end of the day we need money to buy food for our children so we end up selling our products for cash, said Shylet, a lady vendor.
To her, mobile vending has been working and she is surviving on it.
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If I go into Lobengula or as far as Magwegwe North, it pays off but brother, its not easy. I have to walk several kilometers pushing my cart full of goods. Sometimes people do not buy our products after all that effort, she said.
Its tricky my brother because we can go as far as Pumula and fail to sell anything, so it is a difficult for us, she said.
However, mobile vending is slowly becoming a common phenomenon in many cities and towns despite such setbacks.
