Find a lasting solution to illegal vending

ALTHOUGH I agree that our cities and towns should be kept clean I do not support the harassment of vendors who are being removed from the CBD areas in Bulawayo.

I know that there is no employment in Zimbabwe at the moment so people have no source of income besides vending so it will be better if proper vending bays are established as soon as possible so that they can be allocated to these vendors to operate from.

These days we always see some Bulawayo City Council trucks loaded with fruits and vegetables forcibly taken from the vendors who would have been found selling from undesignated areas.

It will not be proper to hear stories that these greedy BCC security guards are selling the same impounded items through their wives and other close relatives.

Some vendors complained that even those with valid licences to sell in the city centre have lost all their items to the city council and it will not be easy for most of them to recover again.

I’m very much unhappy to see that the so called designate areas are very far away from the people, for example vendors are being asked to sell their fruits from a flea market which is outside the city centre near Highlanders Clubhouse.

This place is very far in such a way that no one can travel for such a long distance just to buy an orange or apple.

It will be better to establish a vending bay close to the market instead of confiscating items which is not the solution. Eddious Masundire Shumba and Rev Reuben Mabhena, Bulawayo.