- Proposed relocation of Maun vendors resurfaces post elections
- Councillors complain; vendors have overcrowded Maun’s Old Mall
- Want a market place to be established for them elsewhere
- Last year councillors blocked the eviction as elections were looming
- They feared the decision would cost them votes
The proposed eviction of street vendors operating from Maun’s Old Mall which was a political hot potato for the North West District Councillors last year ahead of the general elections has resurfaced in council post the polls.
While the issue of the informal sector traders having overcrowded the mall especially by the parking spaces has long been a cause of concern for the local authority, the council leadership last year reportedly delayed to act because of councillors’ fear that it was going to disadvantage them during the elections.
Some councillors from across the political divide reportedly cautioned that that as the elections were approaching the then intended decision to evict or relocate the vendors was going to be political suicide as it would have infuriated the hawkers.
The said concerned councillors argued that the council leadership delayed in addressing the matter therefore warned that the timing by then was now not politically right to deal with the issue.
Post the elections, some councillors have recently raised the issue again reiterating their concerns about the vendors’ overcrowding in the mall.
Chanoga-Samedupe councillor, Nico Folae has recently complained that while council was able to evict vendors who were selling purified water in the street without license, it has however failed to equally deal with those who have overcrowded the mall.
“We were able to go after locals who were providing us with clean water that taste much better than the one coming from our taps, but we then leave Zimbabwean nationals crowding the mall practicing dubious businesses,” the councillor complained.
He reminded that council once sent a delegation of councillors on a benchmarking mission to Namibia where they found that authorities there have established a market place for vendors where they sell their products in an organised manner. Folae said that the same could be done here suggesting for council to relocate the local vendors to the Maun Bus Rank where there is enough space to do business.
Among others who concurred with Folae complaining about the untidy state Maun were Kareng-Qhorotsha Councilor Keapoletswe Keapoletswe and specially nominated councillor, Kebareeditse Ntsogotho.
Ntsogotho suggested for the council chairman, Itumeleng Kelebetseng to make a revenue generation proposal to investors to construct stalls of same model and place them strategically around Maun for vendors to rent them. He said though the mall doesn’t look good it should however be taken into consideration that the vendors have occupied the place to make a living for themselves and their families.
In response, Kelebetseng however indicated that the councillors are the ones who came with such a proposal but they backtracked on implementing it last year because the elections were looming.
Meanwhile, a response from NWDC Physical Planning Department reveals that there is a Task Team that will be formed in April 2025 to undertake a thorough investigation about the Informal Sector in the mall area and come-up with recommendations to address the issue.
Previously, a representative of the informal sector traders, Mmabontle Samuel acknowledged they are not organised in the mall, admitting that it is an eyesore, even to tourists. She however indicated that all they ever wanted was to make living for themselves and their families.
Samuel then suggested that council should consider them when mall layouts are made by creating spaces where their stalls can be well placed. She highlighted that in other countries there are structures created for the street vendors which they occupy at a certain fee. Samuel opined that such structures could have been created by the open space near Nandos for the place to look tidy.
