City council, vendors strike ‘deal’ after protest
Blantyre City Council and vendors plying their business outside Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) reached a compromise yesterday after the latter earlier protested dismantling of their illegal vending stalls.
The vendors woke up yesterday to find their stalls burnt down and resorted to blocking the newly rehabilitated Chipatala Avenue leading to the referral hospital and Kamba Township.
They burnt old tyres and blocked the road with tree branches and rocks before police moved in to quell the situation.
Blantyre Police Station deputy public relations officer Mary Chiponda in an interview said the situation would have affected the patients and operations of the hospital.
She said: “We also called the Blantyre City Fire Brigade to work with us to calm the situation. We further agreed with the vendor representatives that they meet city officials for discussions.”
The QECH market vendors’ chairperson Patrick Liphava said they were annoyed with the council’s decision to relocate them at short notice.
He said: “They are chasing us away from the premises where we have been conducting businesses all these years to support our families. In the process, we have lost goods worth over K2 million.
“Our protests were to ask the government and other organisations to come to our rescue. Does the city council want us to start drinking alcohol and die due to poverty?”
But in the course of the day, city council officials met representatives of the vendors in a two-hour closed door meeting at the Blantyre Civic Centre where they agreed to temporarily relocate the traders from the QECH perimeter fence.
Liphava said they agreed “to build Malawi together” and that no vending will take place in the prohibited area until Friday next week when the council will provide further direction.
Blantyre City Council public relations officer Deborah Luka referred the matter to chief executive officer Dennis Chinsewu who did not pick our calls on several attempts.
For reasons ranging from orderliness and tidiness to enhancement of security, Blantyre, Zomba, Lilongwe and Mzuzu city authorities have for years discussed the removal of vendors albeit with little success.
The Nation spot-checks yesterday on the streets of Lilongwe, Blantyre and Mzuzu cities showed that vendors of retail merchandise such as electronic accessories, fresh fruits, vegetables and clothing continue plying their trade.
At Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe and Mzuzu Central Hospital vending around the hospital premises also continues to take place without control.
Some vendors we spoke to cited lack of existing markets and tough economic times as the reasons they abandon flea markets for the streets and hospital facilities. n
—Additional reporting by ALLAN NYASULU and MATHEWS KASANDA,
Staff Writers
