STREET VENDORS RIOT OVER CITY COUNCIL CLEANUP

UNCLAS MASERU 000345

SIPDIS

AIDAC
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON SOCI ASEC LT
SUBJECT: STREET VENDORS RIOT OVER CITY COUNCIL CLEANUP



1. SUMMARY: Street vendors on the old Maseru Bus stop staged a
demonstration against the City Council on July 13, to protest
against the removal of their tables and food from the area
overnight. The group forced shop owners, who are mostly Chinese
to close down their shops, and hurled barricades across roads to
prevent traffic from moving. According to officials of the
Maseru City Council, vendors are not allowed to leave their
property on the sites they have been allocated to sell their
food/wares from, lest they be treated as garbage and removed by
workers of the council. The situation was quelled by police who
negotiated with leaders of the group instead of using force, and
asked them to go to the offices of the City Council to negotiate
the return of their property. END SUMMARY.


2. A front page story entitled "Street Vendors up in Arms" in
the MOPHEME newspaper dated July 19, describes the action taken
by the vendors as reminiscent of the 1998 political riots, as
they used sticks and stones, and kicked rubbish bins, bringing a
stand-still to commercial activity at the old bus stop and
Cathedral Area of Maseru. Note: The area where the riot took
place is scanned by the Roman Catholic cathedral and the Lesotho
Evangelical church in an area where businesses are predominantly
owned by Basotho, Indians and Chinese. Hundreds of street
vendors frequent this area because they can sell their wares to
travelers who board buses and taxis destined for all corners of
Lesotho. A number of primary and high schools are also found in
the general area, and students will often abscond from going to
school in favor of drinking liquor sold by the vendors. End
note.


3. Speaking in a phone-in program on the national Radio Lesotho
on Monday July 24, officials of the Maseru City Council were
emphatic that the permits issued to street vendors specify that
all tents, boxes, pots and tables are supposed to be removed
from the street at the end of every day. Any property left is
considered as garbage, and removed for purposes of cleanliness.


4. The officers further stated that it had come to their
knowledge that street vending is done by people who are hired by
some civil servants and foreigners to sell their wares on their
behalf. They said such people were doing this to avoid applying
for licenses that permitted them to conduct their businesses
from known premises where they would, among other things, pay
value added tax on their sales. They gave the example of one
trade who unloads bags of oranges by truck, and warned him to
desist from the action lest legal action be taken against him.


5. Representatives of organized street vendors complained about
the City Council Market Master and his staff, who issue permits
to people who should not be selling at the level of street
vending. They said it is these people who do not belong to
their group who refuse to take part in cleaning campaigns around
the vending zones. They also sighted some shop owners who don't
own garbage cans, but throw their garbage onto the streets.


6. Callers to the program generally agreed that the city
council is not doing enough to enforce rules of cleanliness and
zoning of street vendors. They complained about vendors who
pitch tents and sell food on street pavements, making the
movement of pedestrians difficult. Callers from other towns in
the country complained about similar uncleanliness in their
towns, and called on local authorities to enforce the laws.


7. COMMENT: The Maseru City Council has been lax in enforcing
laws governing street vending. As a result every bus stop in
the city has become a squatters' camp where permanent plastic
dwellings have become hovels for illegal liquor sale, muggings
and prostitution. Sporadic raids like the one carried out last
week lead to riots because the vendors claim legitimacy in
protecting semi-permanent structures which they have constructed
and continued to use in full view of the council. The street
vendors' most recent incident reflects the underlying
socio/economic ills plaguing Lesotho as it seeks appropriate
economic reforms. Addressing the needs of the poor remains a
challenge in this developing country. END COMMENT.

PERRY