BUS RANK TENSIONS
•Hawkers bully Gaborone Hotel owners •Relocate the hotel: owners plead with GCC
If Gaborone Hotel (GH) proprietors were to be brutal, street vendors and hawkers plying their trade on the hotel’s sides at the bus terminal would be kicked out within the blink of an eye. Hotel Management is in possession of a court order dated June 2020 confirming that the hawkers and street vendors were illegally occupying a portion of the applicant’s premises. The vendors and hawkers were ordered by Judge Gabriel Komboni to vacate the space and to stop trading from the said space. Gaborone Hotel is permitted to remove any structures, shelters, tables, and chairs they find at the space. The order was suspended for three months to enable those trading at the space to make arrangements to vacate the hotel’s property amicably. But almost a year later, hawkers and vendors remain unbothered at the said space. In fact, numbers have now increased with hawkers daring hotel owners to jump.
Speaking to this publication this week, GH General Manager Kenneth Setlhong said they recently discovered that a huge number of hawkers and vendors were encroaching the hotel parking space on the western side.
“They moved there about two weeks back and we can see that they are baying for blood. We have not said anything because we are not really fighting anyone. We just wish things can be done properly without stepping on anyone’s toes,” he said.
Setlhong explained that the hotel wholly owns the portion in the eastern side while the entire parking space on the western side belongs to the council and they have been leasing it to them for more than eight years. “We got into an agreement with the council and one of the conditions was that we pave the parking area which cost us millions. “We continue to pay for the space on an annual basis but now people have taken over and we have no access to the area.” In response, Gaopalelwe Mooki of Thusanang Bagwebi Association representing the hawkers said GH management needs to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the space on the eastern side indeed belongs to them. “We are aware of that court order but we have asked repeatedly that they give us proof that the open space on the eastern side indeed belongs to them. We also want the lease details between them and council,” he said. He said a lease is supposed to have an end period but GH has had the place for the longest time. He said they have gone from one government office to the other seeking answers about both the open space and the parking area but no answers are forthcoming.
They smell a rat! “All we want is proof of ownership and agreements reached. Batswana are starving and trying to make a living. “We are here relaxed and wish to see what will happen, GH has the power and law on their side as per the court order, they should strike if they want,” he said. Because they sympathise with local men and women trying to put bread on the table, GH said they have been lenient, and not enforced the court order, hoping that they will somehow be met halfway. Since 2017, hotel management has tried but in vain to plead with the street vendors, explaining to them that they would like to develop the occupied space for better business profits.
“Business is not doing well and we had hoped to expand and erect something that will bring in money for us. Because of Covid-19, the hotel is not doing well and we are running at a loss yet there are bills to be paid on a monthly basis.” The hotel was proposing to erect trading structures for lease to interested parties. The intention was to have the structures built professionally in an attractive manner. “The anger and hatred visible in their eyes are frightening. Some are even misinformed, they think that the place belongs to the council but we try to be considerate, we really do not have to reach a point where people are kicked out without any plan,” Setlhong said. He added that they have even written a letter to the council, requesting that they buy them out or if possible move his business to another place because the chaos at the bus rank is not good for business. Kombis and buses park and offload just next to the hotel entrance, blocking their clients out. It does not help that the bus rank is notorious for criminal activities, which impacts adversely on accommodation bookings at the hotel.