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Yeukai Karengezeka Herald Correspondent
Deputy Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Jennifer Mhlanga has urged Chitungwiza Municipality to reallocate traders vending space around the town.

Deputy Minister Mhlanga said this to council management during her visit to the town last week.

“I believe that you carried out an exercise to make sure that all illegal structures are removed and it was right.

“It should however, not take you long to allocate space to vendors.

Legally they should operate and our role as a ministry is to ensure they are given appropriate working space because they provide an essential service,” she said.

She added that if space is not created on time vendors would go back to the previous spaces that they occupied.

Deputy Minister Mhlanga said the local authority should come up with designated sites where small to medium businesses can also operate from.

“My plea to you is that we are no longer in the era where some politicians control market places.

Focus on creating proper and strategic working places where there is organised trading and it becomes easy for you to come and collect revenue from them.

“You should be catering for small to medium businesses and create factory shops even for those who are into carpentry and welding for example,” she said.

In an interview, Chitungwiza acting town clerk Dr Tonderai Kasu said they were in the process of re-allocating vending spaces to traders.

“The advice of the deputy minister is well appreciated and she genuinely represents the concerns of those that are there in the community.

It should also be noted that vending re-organisation process is underway but cannot be completed in a day.

He said that council had so far re-allocated traders space at council built and demarcated market places in the four districts Seke South, Seke North, Zengeza and St Mary’s.