Ngoni Dapira

IT’s a chicken and egg situation as Watsomba vendors and Mutasa Rural District Council (MRDC) are clashing over roadside vending, which is now uncontrollably on the increase with many selling at undesignated spots, which is also unsafe because of proximity to the busy Mutare-Nyanga highway.

This was revealed during a media tour of Mutasa Central constituency organized by the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) through its programme which is running countrywide, meant to improve access to information and highlighting issues affecting different communities. Watsomba is a vibrant and growing rural business centre in Mutasa Central, which is about 40km from Mutare along the Mutare-Nyanga highway.

With around 76 percent of the total employment in Zimbabwe in the informal sector, where 40 percent is in the urban areas and 26 percent in the rural areas, this speaks volumes  about how the majority of the working populace from 15 years and above is now informally employed, according to a 2019 Labour Force Child Labour Survey report by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat).

The Covid-19 lockdown measures made it even worse for the locals in the area who mostly survive on subsistence farming and small-scale commercial farming as well as a bit of gold mining activities, but mostly artisanal. Most farmers relied on selling their vegetable produce for income but travelling has been a problem under covid-19. The produce was also not selling very well at the vegetable produce markets in the nearby city of Mutare because people are cash strapped under lockdown measures. So desperation has been creeping and people are now selling willy-nilly along the roadside.

The vendors however believe most of their main customers are motorists passing through and said the motorists prefer to be enticed to stop by their presence on the roadside where they will be marketing their products. Lena Manheri who has been a vendor for many years said the designated sheds for vending away from the highway road are too far.

“To solve the feared road accidents problem, the local authority should just put speed humps to force motorists to reduce their speed which reduces the risk of accidents. Otherwise the highway is the best place to sell for us. We want the vending stalls at the bus terminus to be built here next to the highway. Maybe if the dust road is tarred all the way to designated bus terminus and vending area, this might encourage motorists to pass through the bus terminus and we will gladly go there if this happens. But for now there is no brisk business selling at the terminus,” she said.

Watsomba Business Association chairperson Franklin Nyaumwe said by now Watsomba is supposed to have been a growth point but Hauna in Mutasa North was opted as the best location instead.

“Most people are selling in the open. We started our association to have a formal platform to sit down with the local authority. However, it seems the local authority is turning a deaf ear on our concerns.  Council destroyed the thatched sheds you see there and said the area was not designated for vending. So we are in the process of engaging with MRDC over this issue of an ideal vending location for a win-win scenario,” said Nyaumwe.

MRDC Ceo George Bandure

MRDC chief executive officer George Bandure in a follow-up interview with Easterntimeszim said they identified the bus terminus 300metres away from the main highway as the designated place where vendors can sell their wares and build proper vending stalls for them.

“The problem however is that the commuter omnibuses do not want to use the designated bus terminus and load passengers along the high way. This becomes the main excuse of the vendors that follow where the people will be. But we are saying as business is improving at Watsomba business centre, we want to encourage formalised trading systems and not disadvantage those with retail stores and other various formal shops that operate there within the confines of the law,” said Bandure.

He said the district service area is the main area in Mutasa Central which is where the local authority offices, police station, court and other key services are. He however said they are in the process of getting Watsomba to be transferred from the Ministry of Lands Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement to their Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.  This will help their plans to further develop the area.

“Infrastructure planning should have an element of beauty and should be orderly. If you look at the shacky stalls along the highway, it is not a good sight for a busy highway to a tourist resort area. Two people this year were ran over by cars along the highway and there was also an incident this year where a haulage truck rolled over. So we are also thinking of the peoples safety in mind,” he said.

Mutasa District Development coordinator Tendai Kapenzi concurred the loggerhead but said its because rural people are not used to organised systems. “As a growing business centre what MRDC is doing is the right thing to promote organised ways of vending. This is also inline with Governments rural industrialisation and development strategy to spur organised economic growth in our rural areas. This will also help with revenue leakages of collecting vending licence fees by the local authority. The local authority needs the money to pay employees that clean the business centre and to develop the modern infrastructure at the terminus that the community is demanding,” said the Mutasa district coordinator.

However, the vendors also agree that the Mutare-Nyanga highway is busy and children have been involved in accidents here and there while crossing the road. But for them to be moved from selling along the highway is a non starter and bad for business.

ZUJ secretary general Foster Dongozi encouraged the media to focus on rural reporting.“We have urban and rural areas but more often the voice of rural communities is overlooked. There are issues to do with service delivery, child rights, women rights, business to mention a few. This becomes an integral role of the media that we want to drive as ZUJ, helping our journalists to broadly cover stories during covid-19, as we are aware that most journalists are working under stringent budgets to effectively take on travel stories,” said Dongozi

Below are some pictures of the formal and informal business activities at Wastomba taken during the media tour: (Pictures by Ngoni Dapira)

The young boy from Watsomba (name withheld) helps out his family during holidays and on his free time after school by selling various foodstuffs along the Mutare-Nyanga highway.

A second-hand clothes vendor selling along the highway. This is an undesignated stall but she says she will be looking for a strategic place where lots of people pass through and hang out.

Some of the roadside vendors including children that relieve their parents after school and during holidays. Because of covid-19 most of the children said they will be vending most of the days whilst their parents do other chores.

A well built tuckshop next to the shacky illegal stalls along the highway road at Watsomba.

Some of the formal shops at Watsomba business centre with clothing wear and hardware.

One of the modern structures at Watsomba, Mandel Centre which has a butchery, nightclub and guest houses. The night club which was renovated last year has become the main lesiure centre for live show where high profile artists have been performing drawing many people from Mutare to attend shows there.

An unidentified man waiting for a lift along the Mutare-Nyanga highway at Watsomba after buying his poultry feed in one of the hardware stores. Transportation has been a problem under covid-19, but hopefully the return of intercity public transport will improve things.