BY KENNETH NYANGANI
MUTARE town clerk Joshua Maligwa has accused the Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) ministry of meddling in council affairs by giving directives on how and when the municipality should reopen some of its vending markets.
Maligwa made the remarks at a full council meeting on Monday where he accused the Ministry of SMEs of blocking the reopening of some markets in the eastern border city, including the Sakubva flea market.
“The Ministry of Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) should not tell us what to do,” Malingwa said.
“I want to be clear on that. These are council markets, we should not be given directives by the Ministry of SMEs, they are stepping on our toes. We know what we are doing.”
He added: “Look, in Masvingo, they are already operating their markets successfully and as Mutare City Council, we can also do it.”
City and town councils were forced to close markets in March after President Emmerson Mnangagwa imposed the first lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19.
With the relaxation of the COVID-19 measures, councils have, like other businesses, been gradually reopening markets.
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Addressing the same gathering, Mutare mayor Blessing Tandi said he feared council will soon be under political pressure to open the markets.
“Very soon, we are going to have political pressure to reopen our markets. We might not necessary give in, but we should have a roadmap on how we are going to open some markets,” Tandi said.
City housing director Emma Mantiziba said council had made necessary preparations towards the reopening of vending markets.
“We have done our roadmap on how to open our markets and we have done enough preparations that will see our markets reopening very soon,” she said.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the local authority decentralised the markets around the city to allow for social distancing, one of the COVID-19 precautionary requirements.
