By Sukuoluhle Ndlovu
Masvingo – Informal traders have expressed bitterness over the distribution of the newly constructed market stalls at Chitima and Leopold Takawira markets.
More than 700 traders registered for the stalls but only a few managed to get stalls.
This comes after council demolished their previous stalls.
According to Masvingo City Council Public Relations Officer, Ashleigh Jinjika 148 market stalls were completed by the city council with 80 at Garikai Market and 68 at Leopold Takawira market.
In an interview the disgruntled traders said they had hoped they would be all accommodated as had been promised when their stalls were demolished.
“We were told to register our markets and we did so but now only a few market stalls were constructed yet we had the hope that we were going to get our space like before. 148 market stalls are not enough to accommodate all traders, right now we are still home due to the fact that we do not have tables. The city council should correct this as we want out tables back,” said one trader.
Another trader said that the directive to demolish the markets was a grave mistake.
“The directive from the Ministry was not a great decision ever made, when we heard about the demolition of markets we hailed the idea but now that we are failing to get tables then it was a bad idea. The city council just wanted to eliminate us and have few traders in town, the city council should revise the construction of the market stalls and make sure all the registered traders get a table to sell from,” said Simon Sayi.
The Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Alliance Spokesperson, Godfrey Mtimba said the council should be transparent on how it had distributed the stalls.
“We call upon on the local authority to be transparent in the distribution of stalls. All the traders who had stalls before reconstruction of the new stalls get their stalls back,” he said.
