Ominous threat hangs over wretched vendors

Law enforcement officers of the City Council of Francistown (CCF) went around Botswana's second city warning the vendors, especially unlicensed ones, to vacate their posts or face imminent removal.

That was done in subsequent days, leaving the wretched informal traders a bundle of nerves on the kerb - their ramshackle structures wrecked, their livelihoods in ruins.

This was in fulfilment of a stark ultimatum: those with 'permanent' structures must destroy them, or the officers would demolish the do-it-yourself cottages for them.

'Hostilities' between Francistown's informal traders and bye-law officers date as far back as 2005. One battle-scarred survivor from that time is Oabona Mawila, who purveys music cassettes and compact discs on the main mall.

He recalls how 'they' came and dismantled his crude pipe-and-canvas structure and plonked it at the council's dumping site far away. Mawila, who had started his business in 2004, says that affected him so much that it took him five months to re-stock.

'What I do not understand is why they are doing this only to citizens,' he says. 'They never touch stalls belonging to foreigners, especially Kenyans.'

Ironically, Mawila is a member of a task force formed to negotiate with the council after the informal traders in the old mall were told to relocate to an open but secluded space adjacent to Naledi Motors in Somerset East three kilometres away.

The traders viewed this as a raw deal and elected an ad hoc committee to negotiate for a better deal and engage with the council on wider issues. 'The council is telling us that there is congestion in the old mall, but they are the ones who left the situation to go out of hand,' he says. 'Today there are very few licensed traders in the mall. The rest are either foreigners or people without licences.

'Bye-law officers do not seem to care. That is why there seems to be such lawlessness in this place. Only days ago, they came and charged three or four unlicensed traders; we wonder why not the rest? You cannot disregard the gossip that these people take bribes.'

Mawila discloses that at a meeting on November 20, consensus was reached with the council authorities that spaces should be found in the old mall at which the vendors would be grouped together.

'What surprised us is that at a meeting two days later, they just told us to remove our stalls failing which they were going to demolish them themselves. Why should they do that when we were still talking?'

Senyana Pelotshweu is one of a gaggle of women who went to the city council last Wednesday to appeal their cases after the previous day's ominous message from by-law officers.

The desolate women subsequently massed around this reporter, some of them with tears streaming down their cheeks.'I do not know why our government never makes an effort to find out from us exactly why we are trading,' Pelotshweu said. 'I have five children, she (pointing out another woman nearby) has seven; others have even 10.

'These children go to school. Fees have to be paid. These children must eat and have something to wear. What are expected to do? Should we all register for welfare while we are sufficiently able-bodied to work?'

Another woman, Anastasia Mogome, pointed me to her crippled leg saying she did not know what else, in her condition, she was expected to do? Afterall, they always tidy up before they retire for the day.

'The council is right when it says we should not leave things lying around,' she points out. 'But we are complying. I suspect some people out there are jealous of us. Kana o ka seka wa thaisa mmutla ko o seyong teng (You cannot go hunting for rabbits where there are no rabbits),' she said, referring to plans to move them to places where, they contend, there are no customers.

The council's new City Clerk, Kesentseng Kebabonye, could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press.