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NewsDay

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SMEs minister defends vendors

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SMALL to Medium Enterprises minister Sithembiso Nyoni has described as inhumane the decision by Harare City to chase away vendors from the central business district without involving her ministry.

SMALL to Medium Enterprises minister Sithembiso Nyoni has described as inhumane the decision by Harare City to chase away vendors from the central business district without involving her ministry.

BY MUNESU NYAKUDYA

Small and Medium Enterprises Development minister Sithembiso Nyoni
Small and Medium Enterprises Development minister Sithembiso Nyoni

Nyoni told NewsDay yesterday that chasing away vendors from the streets without engaging them for a permanent solution would not work, as they would stream back because vending has become part and parcel of their livelihoods.

Last year, Harare moved to eject vendors operating at illegal points, accusing them of causing the spread of typhoid, but the vendors’ representatives approached the courts to overturn the decision, citing an infringement of their rights.

“This move of just chasing vendors away from the streets without dialoguing is wrong. We need to dialogue with the SMEs and also to involve the ministry of SMEs,” she said.

“The way it is being done is just giving our people a hard time. We need to talk to them and plan with them. A lot of these local authorities do not realise that these vendors are part of the SMEs being co-ordinated by my ministry.

“Chasing the vendors away from the streets on its own is not the right way. It has never worked and it will not work because people will come back again.”

Nyoni said local authorities should build and develop SMEs parks with all necessary infrastructure, such as toilets and running water before eviction.

“I would like to see a dialogue between the vendors and the local authority. Those SMEs operating in the streets would really be glad to be formalised, to be given a work space and to diversify,” she said.

“I would like to see a well-planned SMEs park, where the local authority says we have developed that area there with all infrastructures like the toilets and running water and then we can see if people will refuse.

“Let us not forget that those vendors out there are as human as you are. Chasing them out without any visible place planned for them is inhuman. They are about 2,9 million Zimbabweans that have started their own businesses and there are over three million SMEs, which means there are some Zimbabweans who have more than one enterprise.”