Market reorganisation in Maputo “disorganises” the lives of those who survive from informal commerce – O País

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Market reorganisation in Maputo “disorganises” the lives of those who survive from informal commerce – O País

2:38 CAT | 28 Jul 2020

Photo: O País

Timidly, informal commerce is returning to the sidewalks of the market in Xipamanine, in Maputo, a month after being banned by the city council. Some sellers lost stalls in this reorganisation process. Street vendors never managed to get space to do business, despite the promises of the Maputo municipality. The only source of livelihood for these people and their families has disappeared.

With the new coronavirus, the Maputo City Council saw an opportunity to do what it had not been able to do for years: reorganise markets and end informal trading in places long considered inappropriate. The move pushed thousands of people into unemployment and worsened their poverty.

Since the City Council of Maputo started, about a month ago, what it calls the reorganisation of the markets, after having identified some positive cases of COVID-19 among the vendors, screams, appeals and protests were heard from sellers, because the city destroyed the stalls built on sidewalks.

A month later, Xipamanine still presents the same image as decades ago, and does not seem to have been reorganised at all. But lives that have been affected by this process.

Amélia and Vitória, for example, are mother and daughter. They grew up in that market and always made a living from it. Amélia, a clothing saleswoman¸ said: “I started selling at Xipamanine in 1987. At that time, there were no stalls. We sat on the floor. There was a soccer field nearby.”

And it was in that market that, from the age of seven, her daughter Vitória started doing business.

“In 1987, I sold water for fifty meticais. Mr. Bay, who was the head of the market and who gave us the stalls, knows us. Today, other chiefs (in the market) are giving us trouble,” Amélia’s daughter Vitória, who also lost her stall in the reorganisation, tells us.

Vitória is 40 years old, one of five children Amélia Macamo raised on the proceeds of a used clothes stall in Xipamanine market. Four decades later, the 63-year-old widow lost her stall to the so-called market reorganisation.

“We were told to stay at home for three days, and the following Thursday we went back to the market. There was still a lot of confusion among the vendors. They had destroyed the stalls, including mine,” she recalls, in a bitter tone.

Because stopping can only mean more hunger for the family, she tried at all costs to get a corner to do business in the official part, but to no avail.

“The people there asked us how come they did the cleaning, removed the coffins that were buried here, paid money, but we were sent there out of nowhere. Why didn’t they tell you to join us for the cleaning?” Amélia recounted, recalling the harsh words spoken by those who had already occupied stalls in the official market.

So, by what was said and what was not said, Amelia and her daughter were left without a stall. The two widows, with 14 mouths to feed, squeezed into a corner to sell their products, but with an eye on the municipal police. “We said that we will not leave this space anymore. All we ask for is a little shade. Even because we are not on the street,” she says

“We won’t be leaving here anymore,” she insists, adding that it is impossible for a mother like her to go home without something for her children and orphaned grandchildren to eat.

Those who are not leaving are the informal vendors who have always occupied the Xipamanine sidewalks. And in this war to reorganise the markets, compassion has breathed its last. The police enter upon the scene, seize the merchandise, and remand the owners are to their cells.

Carlos Domingos has been a street vendor for five years at Xipamanine and was unable to secure a stall after the reorganisation. These days are more a matter of physical endurance than doing business. Carlos was a victim of police aggression.

“When they beat me, I no longer had the strength, but they continued to beat me and I fell. At that time, many thought I passed out, but that was not it. I lost strength from being beaten so much,” he narrates.

“After being attacked, I wanted to go back to my stall, but I have nowhere to go. Where will I conduct my business? Where will we go?” he asks.

And there are many who have nowhere to go. For this reason, they sell what they have, where they can, splitting their attention between business and the police. “It is difficult… it is difficult,” one saleswoman lamented after seeing her merchandise seized by the municipal police. “We are not seeing what we are doing. Business can’t work like this.”

One of the reasons cited for such brutality by the police authorities is the exercise of trade on sidewalks. “They say that they seize our merchandise because we are not at the stalls, but the stalls are for sale. You pay 8,000 meticais. Where are you supposed to find that? I have no husband or anyone else who can help me. What should I do?” the salespeople ask.

But not everyone was unlucky enough to not get stalls. In the so-called luxury part, the city prepared stalls for around 6,000 vendors, but only a third of those are occupied, and they complain about a lack of customers.

The stands are empty, some with just the names left. The market is deserted.

“Since we left the place where we were before, we haven’t made as much as 500 meticais profit. A month has passed, and some days we sell nothing, but every day we are charged a fee of 15 meticais per stall,” one clothes seller complains.

What the few salespeople who are already in the luxurious part ask for is the removal of all vendors who continue to sell outside, so as to attract customers into the market.

The Municipal Council of Maputo confirms the trend of resumption of business on Xipamanine sidewalks and does not rule out the possibility of using force to end informal trade.

“We will continue to fight informal sales and we are aware that this is an irreversible process and all salespeople have spaces in our capital’s markets”, assured Danúbio Lado, Local Development Councillor at the Maputo City Council.

The same process is irreversible in the Zimpeto Wholesaler market, where all retailers were removed and taken to Matendene. The City Council insists that there is room for traders in various markets in the capital. Those who resist leaving are arrested.

By Dário Cossa

Source: O País