Informal traders in Masvingo say
they are looking forward to a return to business by the beginning of July,
saying further delay will be catastrophic to many families.
Informal traders are amongst the
hardest hit group by the coronavirus-induced national lockdown, and have been
out of work since end of March.
City of Masvingo has also taken
advantage of the lockdown to raze down much of the market stalls for
renovations and new planning, but many informal traders feel the process will
not help them much.
“We want to go back to work
because our families are suffering and there is no respite for us. We had
proposed to council that we be allowed to conduct some trade for a limited
number of hours at the open grounds close to Mucheke Stadium under strict
social-distancing rules but we got no response. How do they expect us to
survive?” said Rutendo Shaisanai who used to do her trade at Chitima Market.
Another trader, Fungai Mashandure
said 2019 had been the most difficult year for her family and she could not
wait for the lockdown to be fully lifted.
“I see they have razed down much
of the structures we had put up. The new arrangements will never accommodate
everybody when they finally allow us to move back and it means most of our
colleagues will not be able to move back. It’s very sad,” she said.
Last month, Masvingo carried out
a re-registration exercise for all vendors, and there were many scenes of commotion at Mucheke
admistration offices where the exercise was taking place.
