Street vendors grateful for LEA boost

The life of a street vendor is far from ‘ glamorous,’ ‘ status- driven’ or a guarantee of riches. However, it is a decent means of eking a living for scores of Batswana who make up about 40 percent of the informal sector, most of who are women, according to a survey by Local Enterprise Authority ( LEA).

Since February this year LEA allocated P100 million under the Industry Support Facility to boost street vendors with P1000 each at no repayment, to buy stock. Although it is not much, many street vendors can afford to buy stock for re- sell to their respect community markets.

Street vendors are among the hardest hit by COVID- 19 lockdowns and social distancing restrictions. Think of those men and women from who people buy airtime, cigarettes, sweets and vegetables. It might appear that they make “peanuts” but those meagre earnings have managed to pay school fees, bought school uniforms and clothes, bought cars, built houses, developed plots and afforded relish for many households.

One street vendor in Block 3, who operates near the Spar complex, 38- year- old Kgalalelo Sikwane has built herself a two- bedroom house in her home village and bought herself a second- hand fong- kong sedan with the little she has made in the past decade. The single mother of three started off selling maize meal and moved to selling from Broadhurst before moving to Block 3 in Gaborone.

While she makes a decent living, being a street vendor comes with its own set of challenges. “I guess every work has its challenges – with me, because I did not go far in school, so I have learned to be smart with money. There are also issues of competitiveness as some fight for customers, and then there is safety as many vendors get robbed.

“The unpredictable weather also poses a challenge because when it rains, vendors who operate from streets lose out,” Sikwane said. She said the COVID- 19 period had been a ‘ nightmare’ because they had gone for long periods without selling, forcing them to dip into their meagre savings. The SoE restrictions have meant that by 8pm she should long be gone, and she now packs up at 6pm, however this is better than nothing. Although there is still a steady flow of customers, many of them complain about lack of money. She said the recent VAT hikes are likely to cause a clash between her and customers because she is forced to increase prices as wholesale supplies have also hiked prices. “For example, a cigarette used to be about P3 each but now I sell it for P3.50 – some sell it for P4.00 – they still buy although they complain.

Sweets start from P1.00 and snacks go for P2.00,” Sikwane said. She explained that the VAT on mobile networks hit hard because they will now make less profit. She benefited from the LEA fund and said although it is not much she managed to get some stock. Another street vendor Katlego Mothomi has been running a tuckshop in Gaborone West for two years now. Although COVID- 19 economic impacts have been brutal, he had weathered the storm and stood the test of time. Mothomi said business was not as good as previous years, but ‘ half a loaf is better than none.’ He had been forced to diversify and now also sells fat cakes, chips and atchar. He said the fast- moving items are airtime and cigarettes but now with the VAT increase, they also had to increase prices.

“Times are tough for everyone but we all try to do our best under the circumstances”.