Feature by Marvellous Matswimbo
There is never a peaceful day for Bulawayo informal traders as the running battles with municipal police intensify everyday.
While a lot of service delivery issues are unattended to, the City Council prioritizes chasing defenceless informal traders who are trying to earn a living in a depleting and high inflated economy.
Outraged women who have lost goods to municipal police some three times in a row, today exchanged words with municipal police who posed as customers only to strip them of their goods from which they are trying to earn a living.
“You think it’s easy to even get hold of those goods that you are just confiscating?, we work tirelessly just to have them and you are here robbing us of our only sources of income, how can you people be so heartless”, shouted one woman from the crowd
“Garbage is rotting in every corner of the city and l can’t even speak of the state that our roads are in, yet you are here giving us a hard time”, she continued
The informal traders – municipal police battles have been on going and intensifying in the past months under the mantra “Keeping Bulawayo Clean” as termed by the City Council
Noting that the rain season has begun, many roads in the city that have long been polluted by potholes are slowly becoming a health hazard. Instead of driving on the left, drivers are now driving on whats left.
Luveve-Gwabalanda road and Lochview road are amongst the roads whose state are a cause for concern as they are continuously degraded due to heavy rains and residents are fearing them to soon become accident hotspots.
In an interview, Oscar Masuku, a Luveve 5 resident said the state of the roads in the city are a reflection of the City Council’s service delivery failure.
“These roads are just a disaster waiting to happen and this says a lot about the City’s council failure to fulfil its duties. Initially we thought that the money generated from the parking system that they introduced was going to work towards the fixing of the roads but to my surprise, the parking lines are even drawn on top of potholes”, said Masuku
He added: “The council should start working towards providing the services that they are meant to instead of frustrating informal traders who are also trying to fend for their families in such a time of economic hardships.”
About a month ago, Ward 4 Councilor Silas Chigora highlighted that some roads in Lochview were being rehabilitated with gravel having been delivered but surprisingly the river sand is still on the road side and some residents are even taking it for their personal use.
To be noted also is the city council’s delay in attending to burst water pipes. Many areas go for weeks without water due to the negligence of such issues and most residents end up resorting to buying water which usually goes for US$1 per bucket from those with boreholes in their yards.
If “keeping Bulawayo clean” was really a priority, there wouldn’t be so much uncollected refuse in the Central Business District or any other parts of the city and if informal traders were adding to the uncleanliness of the city, they should be allocated a place from which they can operate from.