Nampula: Vendors walk out of Mphavara market

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Nampula: Vendors walk out of Mphavara market

3:07 CAT | 12 Mar 2021

Photo: Rádio Encontro de Nampula

Some informal traders operating in the Mphavara market in the Namicopo neighborhood have left the site, saying their stalls were surrounded with human excrement after the toilets, which have no water supply, became clogged due to misuse by unauthorised persons.

“There is no way we can sell our products in that market, because it is full of garbage and the toilets are clogged,” said one saleswoman, rueing that this could happen right under the noses of those in charge

The Mphavara Market Chief, Massimagi Abudo said that the problem of garbage and lack of water had already been reported to the Municipal Council, but that no response has as yet been forthcoming.

Markets and Fairs Councillor of Nampula City Council, Osvaldo Ossufo Momade, said that this was a pre-existing problem and that the city council was working with local authorities to study ways to restore the half-abandoned infrastructure.

Mpavara market was built with funds from the Nacala Logistics Corridor (CLN) for the use of residents carrying out commercial activities on the railway line outside Padaria Nampula.

In this objective, it had allegedly failed, residents say, because the market was located too far away and did not attract buyers.

The market, built under the mandate of former mayor of the city of Nampula, the late Mahamudo Amurane, was designed to house more than 140 stalls, a number intended as grocery stores, but which were never occupied.

As with other infrastructure in Nampula, Mphavara Market is yet another lost investment. Another example is the municipal stadium, on whose construction rivers of money were lavished, only for it to become a refuge for criminals, despite a garrison of the municipal police being stationed there.

By Valdemiro Amisse

Source: Rádio Encontro de Nampula