Informal Traders Struggle to Save Businesses As Govt Dithers With Relief Funds

by Amanda Ncube

Measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 have meant the halting of informal activities. For a country with poor social welfare mechanisms and a significant population surviving on vending, these measures are a death trap.

GWANDA, July 30, 2020. (The Citizen Bulletin) — THE COVID-19 pandemic has brought about severe challenges on the livelihoods of many.

Vendors have not been spared as some of them have gone for almost four months without operating.

Some have turned their houses into markets, risking the possibility of infection through uncontrolled traffic. To evade law enforcement agents, they tactfully display their wares in front of their homes and when security forces conduct their patrols, they quickly hide their wares in their houses.

A vendor from Gwanda, Nomsa Moyo says it has become difficult to fend for her family ever since their operations were suspended.

“Life has become very difficult for me, I was operating from the CBD selling vegetables and fruits but our operations were stopped and we were told that we would be allocated new places to work from but up to now we are still waiting to be given the go-ahead to resume our operations,” she says.

Moyo’s husband is a pensioner and she says her meagre profits from vending have been helping in sustaining their two children.

“At first, I stopped operating my business completely until I realised that my children would die of hunger. I then decided to operate from home but it’s not the same as in the CBD where it’s busy and we had a number of customers flocking our stalls to buy vegetables and fruits,” she adds

Moyo says she’s always on the lookout for law enforcement agents which makes it difficult to operate.

 In Gwanda vendors were displaced at the end of March when the country announced its first nationwide lockdown to halt the spread of COVID-19.  The municipality used this time to carry out a disinfection exercise at the vending sites.

Authorities say the exercise was intended to bring ‘sanity’ in the town by relocating the vendors as they were operating from illegal points underneath shacks.

Vendors in the town have been waiting for the past four months to be allocated new vending sites but they have had to wait longer than they had anticipated as the local authority is still in the process of developing the sites.

Central government authorities also promised to bail out businesses that have been affected by the pandemic by introducing a COVID-19 lockdown grant. However, most vendors say they've been waiting for the relief funds to no avail.

The chairperson of Gwanda Urban Chamber of SMEs representing the informal sector, Michael Ndlovu says while some vendors are operating from their homes, others, like him, have not been operating since March.

Ndlovu was selling clothing, footwear and electric appliances in the central business district. According to him, about 700 vendors have been affected in Gwanda urban.

“Being a vendor is a source of livelihood for some of us. It’s where we get money to pay our bills and buy food for our families. Prices are going up on a daily basis which is making it difficult to survive for someone like me who doesn’t have an income."

Michael Ndlovu, SMEs representative

 “Government authorities promised us a grant, but we have still not received the money. The municipality promised to allocate us new working space, but they are still developing the places. surely something has to be done to bail us out. Other businesses closed for some time but at least they have resumed their operations but it’s a different case for us. Can we be assisted because we’ll die of starvation,” Ndlovu adds.

Ndlovu suggests that since the municipality has not finished developing new vending sites they could allow vendors to operate from the old ones while maintaining social distancing and observing all the COVID-19 regulations.

The Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA) is on record for denouncing the destruction of vendors’ stalls which they describe as a systematic criminalization of vendors during disease outbreaks.

Vendors stalls have been destroyed in the past when the country has had cholera and typhoid outbreaks.  

Gwanda town mayor, Cllr Jastone Mazhale however says developing of new vending sites is underway and they are set to be operational soon. Mazhale says they have so far managed to open up Jahunda Bus Terminus Market though it can only accommodate a few vendors, operating according to a set schedule.

Ndlovu says there is a need for the municipality to allocate new selling points to the vendors as soon as possible and for the central government to start disbursing funds to affected businesses.