The City Council of Nampula has no institutional capacity to take action against informal sales on the pavements of the streets and avenues of the so-called northern capital of the country.
The inability was assumed, last Friday, by the mayor, Paulo Vahanle, who preferred to “throw in the towel”, when he noticed the insistence of people to continue selling in the street.
Vahanle made the statement during his meeting with members of civil society organisations, representatives of sellers and informal trade associations, as well as economic agents, with the aim of finding solutions to the problem of informal trade.
“Civil society has been questioning the procedures of the municipal council and we have no other strategy to discipline the townspeople. So we invite you to help us overcome the problem,” Vahanle said.
She said she has been following accusations that the return of informal vendors to the pavements and roads was authorised by the building itself, which she said was not true.
He also said that some actions aimed at withdrawing the informal vendors who were reluctant to use force have been criticised by civil society, which claims that it is a violation of the rights of those vendors.
The representative of the Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA) in Nampula province, Luís Vasconcelos, once again regretted the way the members of the Municipal Police and Oversight Department worked, having suggested relaxing the coercive measures.
He mentioned, for example, that there are cases where members of the Municipal Police assault informal traders and seize their products, a fact that violates human rights.
The street vendor Issufo Mubaira says that the practice of informal trade facilitates contacts with potential buyers because the business environment in the markets does not help the sustainability of the activity.
“Informal trade generates a daily income of between 300 and 700 meticais,” Mubaira said.
Cachimo Mohamed, from civil society, reiterated that there is no need to attack traders to get them off the streets. He suggests that edility should find other non-violent mechanisms to enforce the camaraderie posture.
The municipality notified, through a warning fixed at several strategic points of the city, the informal sellers to leave the streets and return to the markets. The deadline was yesterday, February 1, and the municipality said it would henceforth use force to enforce the position of the municipality.
