In Zambia, street vending is transforming cities and towns such as Lusaka, Livingstone, Ndola and Kitwe. To many, this does not look like a big story. Here, this is not just one among many other social phenomena: street vending epitomizes a lack of political vision.

 

Back in 2011, after street vendors demanded government officials to resign because they had recommended a ban of street vending in trading areas, the ruling Patriotic Front legalized street-vending explicitly. Together, President Michael Sata moved Professor Nkandu Luo to a lesser prominent ministry, after she had declared zero tolerance against street vending in a measure for bringing public health to most cities in the country.  Mr Sata enjoyed huge support across street-vendors.

 

While, in most parts of the world, street vendors are just a feature of urban life. In Zambia, with unemployment rate standing above 50 percent and a labour force of over 4 million of people, street vending, crime and political activism come together. Evidence shows that some 200,000 hawkers are believed to roam the streets of Lusaka, Livingstone, Ndola, Kitwe, Kabwe and many other cities along the rail trails. Most of them are youngsters. A combination that penalizes women and girls mostly.

 

 

Street vending first flourished under the democratic rule (1991 to date), following permission that potential voters were given for the work done during and after the elections in 1991. Some vendors said that, in front of alternatives, they would get a new job. For instance, one of the street vendors on Lusaka’s Lumumba road himself, Kalusa Mulenga, blamed the current governments for not taking a firm stance against vendors.

 

“This is our only way to make ends meet. We understand that street vending has contributed to the waste management problem but we are willing to move to designated places. I remember before 2011, we used to trade in fear, which was not good enough. But when the new government took over, they like legalized street vending which is also not good,” Kalusa said.

 

As he continued, by cracking down on them, the local authority is implicitly stating that they want them to steal and engage in improper deeds. “People do sympathize with us. When police are chasing us, we will become destitute. I try to hassle daily for the little space I have in the street. Sometimes those that belong to the ruling party (Party in government) do chase us from there spaces,” Kalusa said.

 

He is a father of five children. One of them had to quit school for financial reasons. He wants to have his own stall or kiosk in the future. “This job is very uncertain. Last time the policemen used to take our goods. I couldn’t say anything for fear of being beaten or spotted as a rebel and get arrested,” he said.

 

Another street vendor Febby Ngalande said that many Lusaka residents see street vendors as a source of nuisance. Yet, others are becoming more sympathetic with them; just after the government allowed vendors to freely trade on the streets. Febby, a mother of eight children, reminded me that, before this political stance, street vending was very hard for women. They coped with constant harassment and raids from Municipal police officers. “Most of the time, illegal street hawkers were getting chased by police and restricted their activities to areas such as Soweto and Lumumba Markets where all sort of cheap goods are sold. But after government ‘legalized’ street vending, we now trade in peace,” she said.

 

 

So, vendors claim they need this as a way to survive. Others see vending as something that hinders the development of cities in the country. “By the end of the day some streets are in a pathetic state with wrappers, banana boxes and shoe boxes that are thrown everywhere,” the Lusaka City Council LCC public relations manager, Mulunda Habeenzu, said. In the meanwhile, the booming of street vending and the legislation put at risks the beauty of Zambia’s major cities. However, Mr Habeenzu admitted that arrests and subsequent charging of offenders would not change anything. In the past, they did not bring about any change of attitude. “Most offenders are able to pay the K450 (US$40) slapped on them for indiscriminate disposal of waste. We would rather see that people serve the three months simple imprisonment because K450 is too little a fine in comparison to the damage done to the environment,” Mr Habeenzu said.

 

 

Moreover, street vendors have a strong political negotiating power. In the 2011 presidential elections, the government got widespread consensus from the unemployed and street hawkers. With the next August general election, street vendors push to keep the status quo. For now, they are in a limbo they hope for.

 

 

There is a price to be paid, however. A price that politics should be able to pay, despite a short-term loss.

 

In a megalopolis like Lusaka, waste management is a crucial challenge. “The city council worked hard to provide the street vendors with a space where they can sell their goods. To our surprise they abandoned the space offered to them saying that the place wasn’t visible enough for people to see them and the situation now is even worse. Many municipalities have done the same but it seems that these street vendors are not cooperative,” he said.