MEMBERS of the Grassroots Empowerment Flea Market and Vending Association Trust have threatened to take legal action against their leaders whom they accuse of fleecing them of large sums of money as protection fees.
BY STAFF REPORTER
The vendors claim that their leaders have been demanding between $6 and $10 each day from each of the association’s members.
“The leaders come in the name of Zanu PF and sometimes they put up Zanu PF flags and other regalia with the First Lady’s face at the trading area along Speke Avenue and Jason Moyo Avenue,” said one of the vendors.
“They demand between $6 and $10 a day and if one fails to pay them, you will be chucked out of the trading area. On the other hand council demands $1,25 and at the end of the day the money will be too much for us considering the amount of business that we do,” said a vendor who declined to be named.
However, Grassroots Empowerment Flea Market and Vending Association Trust chairman Alexio Mudzengerere dismissed the claims as false.
“We work as a registered vendors’ association. People can say what they want, but even burial societies have their own rules as well. This is not a one-man band, but we operate as an association,” he said.
He said the old membership cards were phased out and hence people need to register again and pay affiliation fees.
