Coronavirus has further extended its impact to the street vendors, as the Lusaka Mayor has announced a ban on the petty trader and hawkers who make ends-meat by selling their merchandise on the streets of Lusaka.
Lusaka Mayor Miles Sampa, revealed in a statement to Zambian Business times-ZBT, on March 31,2020, that effective 1st April 2020 Lusaka City Council (LCC) will not allow street vending in the Central Business District (CBD) in the quest to fight the spread of Coronavirus in the city.
Sampa said this includes Simon Mwewa Lane and Lumumba filter Lane which were late last year designated for street vending. He has since directed all vendors to go back to the established markets dotted around the city where they can access hand-washing facilities, which the council has provided, and observe social distancing.
“Our records indicate that all markets in the city have vacant stands or trading spaces to accommodate applicants from the street vendors. The decision comes in the wake of the increasing number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the country and in line with Statutory Instrument No. 21 and 22 of 2020, which among other things has restricted mass public gatherings,” he said.
Sampa explained that the council has observed that it is practically difficult to provide hand-washing facilities in the streets and make vendors observe social distancing of at least one meter apart. He added that the fight against the spread of Coronavirus needs a holistic approach if it is to be won.
“LCC together with its stakeholders are doing everything possible within their means to provide hand washing facilities, conduct sensitizations and make marketeers observe social distancing but the same cannot be done to street vendors. To this end, LCC has procured 300 liters capacity hand-washing facilities to be placed in markets and bus stations and enough chemicals to disinfect the establishments,’’ said Sampa.
He further warned that Vendors who will not abide by the directive will be met with the full force of the combined team of state and council police officers. He said street vending also humpers LCC’s efforts to keep the city clean thereby risking the lives of all residents. He said the Council hopes the vendors and other stakeholder such as vendor’s associations will support the move to avoid the spread of Coronavirus.
The banning of street vending though not well received by the vendors themselves is to be extended to the second and third largest cities by population of Kitwe and Ndola. Some sections of society have however challenged the local authorities to be sincere and state if the markets can in reality enable social distancing.
