ZAMBIA’S UPPED CLEANING DRIVE
…Urinating in public attracts K1,5500 penalty
IN 1992, then Local Government and Housing Minister Michael Sata introduced a law, proscribing street vending and specific nuisances including spitting in public.
Social discourse tilted towards this particular subject, with some people poking fun at the fact that pu-nitive measures including arrests would be meted out against anyone spitting or urinating in undesignated locations.
Indeed, it was a humorous start which eventually culminated into serious business.
Little did the masses realise the impeccable foresight with which the minister and Government introduced the Local Government (Street Vending and Nuisances) regulations 1992, which today has resonated in a more comprehensive fashion.
In the public domain, this piece of legislation suffered some degree of ridicule as in the initial stages certain quarters of society mistakenly thought it was all humour as Mr Sata expounded the law and emphasised that spitting carelessly was an offence.
Passing urine in undesignated areas was equally an offence, so he stressed humorously.
“The King Cobra (as Mr Sata was fondly referred to) has banned spitting in public,” was the catch phrase that stole the limelight.
In many instances, people isolated spitting in public from about 22 offences and based their elaborate discourse on this matter which had always been known to be a bad habit or associated with people who were ill-mannered.
The Minister himself took time to explain the provisions of the Street Vending and Nuisances regulations on the national broadcaster and many other fora. His vision was to restructure the trade pattern and ensure clean- liness in all public and private locations.
Fastforward, more than two decades down the line street vending in Zambia exploded!
Trading became lucrative for freewheeling street vendors, but the downside was profoundly intense to the extent that public order was disturbed. Poor hygiene spread across as mountains of garbage became a permanent and common feature.
Drainages in townships and public places became ready areas for rubbish disposal!
Street vending is however being steadfastly extinguished along with cholera that triggered an overdrive and multisectorial approach. An army of rampaging street vendors has been swept off the streets.
The haulage of vendors was capped by the amendment of the Statutory Instrument (SI) 54 of 1992, now referred to as Local Government (Street Vending and Nuisances) amended regulations 2018.
This is aimed at strengthening the law against street vending and public nuisances as additional offences to the list in the 1992 schedule have been included. “In this regard, honourable Vincent Mwale on February 2, 2018 signed the Statutory Instrument number 10 of 2018 to amend the penalties for twenty two (22) offences contained in SI 54 by increasing the penalty fees as well as introducing 33 new offences.
“This SI was gazetted on Friday 9th February 2018, and therefore, it is binding as law,” announced Local Government Permanent Secretary Amos Malupenga recently.
Even without such regulations, humans naturally are expected to maintain acceptable levels of cleanliness and orderly conduct both in private and public.
Be as it may, regulations are inevitable for the purposes of guidance and proper enforcement, given the varied nature of the citizens.
The trouble, however, is that after the announcement of the amendment to the SI, there had not been sufficient awareness programmes by implementing agencies – the councils.
The provisions of the amended regulations ought to have been extensively publicised on national broadcaster, private television stations, community radio and indeed in the print media.
Information about this particular legislation must be spread out to the masses in a manner that is appealing, precise and easy to understand.
Government’s announcement is not enough; the councils and other State wings should have picked it up for onward dissemination. This would have made implementation or enforcement much easier.
Enforcement of this law has been dicey since it was introduced in 1992 because of contradicting political pronouncements, prominent among them urging street vendors to continue plying the trade on the streets.
In the end, vendors wielded so much authority on the streets and dared anyone to confront them. Council revenue collectors became lame ducks and would plough through discourteous vendors to get to legal traders in designated locations to collect levy.
It was no surprise, therefore, that when they were ejected from the streets at the height of the cholera outbreak, vendors mobilised themselves in broadday light in Lusaka, chanting slogans and demanded that they be allowed to trade willynilly on
Also prominent in the new regulations is the prohibition of display of goods in frontage or sidewalks. Buying and offering for sale goods in undesignated areas as well as preparing meat and other food stuffs in the open. This entails that the sellers along with the buyers will be liable to punishment if found wanting. Failing to confine or secure pets in one’s premises or allowing birds and pets to defecate on other people’s premises and properties is an offence. There has been careless tendering of domestic animals which roam the townships and leave excreta anywhere.
the streets.
They had the audacity to engage in running battles with police in Kanyama Township where they torched a garbage collection truck and destroyed other properties. The stark resistance was a manifestation of the unlimited leeway they had been granted by the political elite.
They had earlier invaded corridors and other public places with much glee while shop owners, who paid levies and met other trade obligations, watched in awe as the parroting vendors raked more income.
One school of thought in the public domain was that their income levels were so small and needed a high turnover on the streets for their livelihood hence were be allowed to peddle their wares in the manner they did.
Another one was that they were among the avid political followers and swayed the voting pattern. But could all this have been the reason to allow outright transgression of the law!
Thus the PF Government was magnanimous enough to recant an illegality which had been “rebranded” as a legal undertaking.
Yes, spitting or vomiting, throwing litter, urinating and defecating in undesignated places are transgressions that have previously gone unhindered. Singing obscene songs and drawing graffiti of obscene nature in public are proscribed.
Allowing accumulation of garbage, failure to keep institutional or private premises clean, permitting passengers to discard rubbish from moving vehicles, throwing rubbish from one’s vehicle and failing to provide bin in shop or public transport vehicles are all prohibited.
In the past, some passengers would carelessly discard banana peels through a bus window as everyone else went ahead with their business. No one queried!
One landmark intervention in the amendment is the prohibition of levy collection from markets and public transport operators by any person other than the designated council employees or agents.
There has been hue and cry that some political cadres have been collecting levies in bus stations and in some markets. This is an offence as listed in the schedule of the amended SI, punishable by a K1,000 penalty fee.
This practice has been experienced in successive Governments even in the UNIP era when the unbri-dled and dreaded party vigilantes hovered around bus stations and markets.
Therefore, law enforcement officers and the councils should collaborate and rid public places of unruly cadres who illegally collect levies and harass those that stand by requirements of the statutes.
Depositing human waste in packages and discarding it in undesignated places is illegal and was previously common in the Central Business District (CBD) in Lusaka whose drainages and alleys were choked.
Also prominent in the new regulations is the prohibition of display of goods in frontage or sidewalks. Buying and offering for sale goods in undesignated areas as well as preparing meat and other food stuffs in the open.
This entails that the sellers along with the buyers will be liable to punishment if found wanting.
Failing to confine or secure pets in one’s premises or allowing birds and pets to defecate on other people’s premises and properties is an offence. There has been careless tendering of domestic animals which roam the townships and leave excreta anywhere.
During lunchbreak, it had become common for people to sell ready meals from their vehicles and other conveyances while other people provided confectionaries for sale in busy points that are not designated areas for such business. This is now illegal.
Equally illegal is the practice of washing vehicles and mending tyres on roadsides and other undesignated points. Heavy vehicle parking in undesignated areas and operating unregistered taxis will also attract sanctions under the new SI.
Selling of vegetables and fruits from the ground, wheelbarrows and open vans is illegal so is exposing or selling unwrapped food.
It is envisioned that with the imposition of deterrent unit fees for offenders, street vending and public nuisances will be eliminated.
For instance, spitting in public attracts a fine of K100, throwing litter K500, urinating in undesignated area K1,500 same with selling of food on the streets while defecating in wrong location attracts a pen-alty fee of K2,000.
Mending tyres on roadsides and other wrong places attracts a penalty fee of K500 while K1000 will be slapped on offenders operating unregistered taxis and those who park heavy vehicles in undesignated areas.
Notably, street vending has become an endemic problem in many developing countries which are faced with rapid urbanisation. Many countries in this segment are battling to regulate this kind of business for various reasons.
In neighbouring Malawi, street vending is increasingly becoming a vexing problem for local councils that have been struggling to put an end to this kind of trade since 1994 when the economy was liber-alised. It is rife in major towns of the country.
A writeup by Charles Mkula in the online publication urbanafrica.net says street vending in food products has particularly been a thorny issue because of the health risks and other hazards it poses on citizens and the environment.
The publication says vending is noted for generating excess litter, which stretches the capacity of councils’ sanitation department to keep cities clean. Food vending also poses health risks and is also said to be a security concern as it encourages criminal activities.
Mayors in Malawi intend to put a stop to street vending in the country’s major town centres as the practice is illegal. All traders are expected to conduct business in designated markets in line with councils’ bylaws.
Further Urbanafrica.net says Malawi’s decentralisation policy empowers councils to deal with street vending.
In Zomba, Malawi’s former capital city, Mayor Joana Ntaja has argued that the argument by vendors that they go into the streets because they do not find adequate space for their wares in designated markets is not true.
In capital city Lilongwe, Mayor Willie Chapondera said the council will engage vendors to enable them appreciate the bylaws on vending. Despite being illegal, street vending has become a feature of urban life in Malawi.
Vendors in Malawi, who are mostly youths, ply their trade in fruits and vegetables, newspapers, cosmetics, jewellery, bags and secondhand clothes.
They also shine shoes on the streets, highways and sidewalks while other vendors are commissioned by formal retail outlets to expand their market outreach in the urban areas.
In contrast, street vending in developed countries is a well-organised and regulated industry with high compliance levels. Street vendors get permits and licences to vend in specific points and do observe the highest levels of hygiene.
A case in point is United States of America (US) where mobile food vending has become an integral part of the country's culinary and social identity.
An online publication Eater. com states that food trucks and street food vendors are a reality in America's changing food landscape.
San Antonio, the seventh largest city in US, is said to be meticulously regulating mobile food vending and changing its laws to keep up with the food truck proliferation. Food trucks must however main-tain a 300foot distance from any building that vends food.
In New York City, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene grants licences and permits, two docu-ments one needs in order to peddle anything from a mobile unit. One needs both documents to oper-ate legally.
Yes, spitting or vomiting, throwing litter, urinating and defecating in undesignated places are transgressions that have previously gone unhindered. Singing obscene songs and drawing graffiti of obscene nature in public are proscribed. Allowing accumulation of garbage, failure to keep institutional or private premises clean, permitting passengers to discard rubbish from moving vehicles, throwing rubbish from one’s vehicle and failing to provide bin in shop or public transport vehicles are all prohibited.