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Mthabisi Tshuma, Chronicle Correspondent

Bulawayo, once regarded as the cleanest city in Zimbabwe, has degenerated into a filthy and crowded place as informal traders conduct their business willy-nilly with uncollected garbage all over.

Manoeuvring around the city has become a nightmare as one has to jump over vendors’ wares to access registered shops. Motorists, like pedestrians, are victims too as illegal vendors now block the free flow of traffic by selling their products too close to roads.

A snap survey by Chronicle showed that informal traders along 5th Avenue and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Street have allocated themselves places at undesignated areas by the roadside thereby risking being knocked down by vehicles. 

Hawkers with buckets full of buns and samoosas walk around the city in pursuit of workers in the Central Business District (CBD) mostly during breakfast times.

Vegetable vendors have taken over frontages of buildings which in the past was unthinkable. James Court at the corner of 9th Avenue and Herbert Chitepo Street is an example. In the past vegetable vendors were only found at the Bulawayo Market but have found space at the block of flats.  

The fresh produce vendors leave rotting produce on the streets for council to clean up. But Bulawayo City Council (BCC) which is reeling from fuel shortages has minimised operations giving vendors free rein on the city streets.

The congestion is attracting pickpockets who literally harvest cash and other valuables from unsuspecting residents.

In an interview yesterday, Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Association (BPRA) secretary for administration Mr Thembelani Dube said the local authority should enforce its by-laws and increase visibility to address the lawlessness and dirt in the city.

“BCC must enforce the council by-laws as was the case in yesteryears. The completion of eGodini project must be accelerated to accommodate all the vendors who are now found in every corner of the city,” said Mr Dube.

In the past, Bulawayo Municipal Police (BMP) officers, popularly known as Omakokoba, used to be visible as they arrested vendors who operated at illegal points.

The section of Fort Street, now called Lookout Masuku Street, between Leopold Takawira Avenue and 5th Avenue is not a designated place for vending but is now awash with illegal entrepreneurs who block the pavement selling groceries, shortchanging registered supermarkets who pay rates to the city.

Musicians, in a bid to overcome piracy, are attracting huge crowds on the street as they personally sell their music, thereby compounding the congestion. They do so side by side with music pirates.

A retailer who declined to be named said: “In the past, this place was clear of vendors. At first authorities tried to remove the vendors but now the vendors, who can charge less because they don’t pay rates and rent are stealing our customers.

“There are rates that we pay to the council and that is not fair to us as the vendors benefit through our hard work.”

Maize cob vendors are slowly colonising every street corner where they make fires on which to roast mealies. They stand accused of contributing to the frequent blocking of drains as they throw ash into the drainage system.  This increases the risk of floods in the city centre.

The Bulawayo Market has traditionally been one of the dirtiest places in the city but is now worse. BCC is reportedly collecting the garbage daily but at times jumps a day or two due to lack of fuel. 

Illegal money-changers have also taken up sections of Lookout Masuku Street and 5th Avenue masquerading as vendors. They block pavements as they nag passersby for attention.

In the past, Naiks Building along Herbert Chitepo Street and 5th Avenue was regarded as the World Bank where illegal money changers plied their illicit trade but of late they have spread their wings deep into the city centre primarily along Leopold Takawira Avenue opposite Tredgold Building and along George Silundika Street between 10th and 11th avenues. 

Not to be outdone, operating as a crew of its own, illegal fuel dealers have found havens between Herbert Chitepo Street and Fort Street along 5th Avenue where they are targeting the foreign currency market. 

The shortage of fuel in the city has also led to fuel queues which have compounded traffic congestion in the city.

The closure of Basch Street terminus, popularly known as Egodini, has worsened the traffic jams along Herbert Chitepo Street as mostly Zupco buses from the western suburbs which are a relief to residents who are ripped off by private commuter omnibus operators through high fares, use the street as a pick-up and drop-off point, sometimes blocking the road as there are no suitable bus parking bays.

To those who are not patient enough to wait for the buses, they board pirate taxis and trucks which, for the western suburbs, are found at, among other places, 15th Avenue and Herbert Chitepo Street, 11th Avenue and Herbert Chitepo Street and 6th Avenue and Herbert Chitepo Street and King Lobengula Street. For the eastern suburbs the pirate transporters are found at, among other places, Harare Road, 15th Avenue and Robert Mugabe Way. 

Touts have found a playing ground at these places as they call the shots and demand cash for loading passengers from the drivers. Drivers who do not pay are either harassed or banned from picking passengers. — @mthabisi_mthire.