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| National |
| Police arrest 30 vendors in BT |
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by
Emmanuel Muwamba and Francis Tayanjah Phiri, 20 April 2006
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05:22:33
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Police in Blantyre on Wednesday arrested 33 vendors for conduct likely to cause breach of peace after they caused commotion.
Southern Region Police Public Relations Officer Rhoda Manjolo said the vendors threw missiles at Police who went to Blantyre flea market to restore order when street vendors disagreed on the relocation.
“Some vendors wanted those that were using the market to vacate so that...the relocation [should be re-started] but some vendors were angry with their colleagues. Police officers were called in to quell the situation and the vendors advanced, throwing stones and other objects at the officers.
“In order to control the situation police threw tear-gas canisters at the crowd and some vendors took advantage took of the situation [while running away] to break into a PTC shop next to Nando’s Chicken Wing and a private clinic in Chayamba Building,” said Manjolo.
The commotion led to the temporary closure of the PTC shop and other shops around the Nando’s area but business resumed in the afternoon.
Police in the morning Wednesday destroyed all vendors’ stalls in the city.
A visit to the Blantyre Flea Market by The Nation Wednesday afternoon found that the market was closed with demolished stalls lying on the ground.
It was a different story at Wenela Bus Depot where vendors voluntarily demolished their stalls as demanded by government.
In Lilongwe, vendors occupied their flea market following police involvement in the demolition of all vendors’ stalls erected in an unauthorised places. Eye-witnesses said business was as usual with most Indian shops opening from morning till late in the afternoon.
In Mzuzu, Police chased newspaper vendors from the streets, an action media watchdog, the National Media Institute of Southern Africa (Namisa), has since condemned.
But Mzuzu City Assembly’s Chief Executive Samson Chirwa has vowed they would not allow any vending outside designated markets, adding newspaper vendors were not exceptional.
“We are not stopping anyone from selling newspapers, but all we are saying is that they should operate differently and not like vendors. As far as we are concerned vending is stopped. We are following orders, and for clarifications, ask government,” said Chirwa.
He said as far as he was concerned, selling of newspapers outside shops or chasing for customers in the streets was vending.
But Namisa’s chairman Lewis Msasa said in an interview that his organisation was irked by the action of the Mzuzu Assembly. He said newspapers were sold on the streets anywhere in the world.
Said Msasa: “Sometimes it is lack of understanding. A newspaper is an information tool that is supposed to be accessible to people. Even the city itself knows that its side of the story on the issue of vendors should be communicated to masses through such media as newspapers.”
He wondered why it was only Mzuzu City that was chasing newspaper sellers unlike in Lilongwe and Blantyre.
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