Maputo Council gives Baixa street vendors an ultimatum: “Move to the markets!”

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Maputo Council gives Baixa street vendors an ultimatum: “Move to the markets!”

2:07 CAT | 23 Jan 2020

Photo: Noticias

Vendors plying their trade on sidewalks and other inappropriate places in Maputo’s CBD [‘baixa’] are expected to relocate, with immediate effect, to the stalls, ‘barracas’ and shops in various municipal markets.

The ultimatum comes from Maputo City Council of, which is trying to relocate retail activity and free the sidewalks which have for years been taken over by informal traders, obstructing the circulation of people and goods and violating municipal laws [‘posturas’, in Portuguese].

Emídio Fabião, director of Markets and Fairs, said that the decision to remove street vendors was preceded by the removal of stalls from sidewalks.

“In fact, those who are still selling on the sidewalks are recalcitrant: they should already be in the municipal markets. We have a total of 5,089 stalls, shops and stores available in various markets in the capital, so there is no need for people to continue selling in public spaces,” he said.

Fabião told ‘Noticias’ that, if the informal traders continued to operate in their current locations, the municipality would take coercive action and force them off the streets and sidewalks.

Fabião said that, for example, there were 20 vacant stalls and two barracas at Mercado 4 de Outubro in the KaMpfumu Municipal District. At Mercado Agostinho Neto, there were 10 stalls and eight barracas available, and in the Maputo Arts, Gastronomy and Flowers Fair (FEIMA), two stalls and an equal number of barracas.

He also added that, at Hlamankulo, 72 stalls and 807 barracas were available in markets such as Xipamanine, Malanga, Fajardo, Lhanguene, Vulcano and 7 de Abril. In KaMaxakeni, another 658 are awaiting vendors – 117 stalls and 541 shops in the Mazambanine, 1 de Maio, Chai, Mafalala, Maxaquene, 1 de Agusto and Fish markets.

In the KaMubukwana District, 2,003 spaces are also available in markets such as George Dimitrov, Mbuzini and Matendene, to name just a few.

“Informal salespeople can choose where they want to develop their activities,” he said.

The municipality has the support of civil society organisations from the KaMpfumu district in this process.

One of the great challenges, Fabião said, was to assure the circulation of people and goods, mainly in the avenues Zedequias Manganhela, Filipe Samuel Magaia and Samora Machel, 25 de Setembro, Karl Marx and Filipe Samuel Magaia.

Prior to the removal of the street vendors’ stalls, an awareness campaign was launched, with leaflets appealing for a voluntary retreat from the sidewalks and instructions on how street vendors should take up places at the municipal markets.

Source: Noticias