The Bulawayo City Council yesterday said it had assured vendors operating at Lobengula Street Mall that the proposed upgrading of the facility would not disrupt their business.
Mayor Thaba Moyo told NewsDay he had met the vendors and assured them that they would not be displaced.
The vendors had confronted him demanding assurances that they would retain their stalls during the upgrading phase.
“We want to ensure that the area has sheds to protect the traders from rain and other weather elements and that there are areas where they can store and lock up their wares.
“We will ensure that no one is displaced because of the project.
“You understand we need to have proper facilities you don’t want umshasha (makeshift structures) in the central business district,” he said.
He, however, declined to say how they would upgrade the facility without disrupting vendors’ business.
“We will cross that bridge, when we come to it. The vendors were put there at the mall by council and it is the one which is responsible for town planning and development. No one can stop us,” he said. Moyo said the local authority would soon invite tenders for the project.
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However, Shelton Ncube, a representative of the vendors at the mall, said the mayor had failed to provide concrete guarantees that the project would not disrupt their business.
“We met the mayor on July 11 about that issue, but he did not explain how we would continue doing business while work is going on.
“We understand there will be sheds and concrete slabs constructed from which we will sell our wares,” Ncube said.
