How Ilala municipality grapples with problem of vendors

Dar es Salaam. Street vendors and hawkers have been operating in the Ilala Municipal Council for decades. The municipality, which accounts for about 50 per cent of all taxes paid in the country, is Tanzania’s economic powerhouse. It hosts the majority of large industries. The Dar es Salaam Central Business District, where the head offices of many businesses are located, is also in the Ilala Municipal Council, so is the East and Central Africa’s ultimate trade hub, Kariakoo, the Julius Nyerere International Airport and several major industries.

It is this hustle and bustle of Ilala that has attracted thousands of streets vendors and hawkers to its roads, pavements and open spaces. Many young people come from villages hoping to find jobs in urban areas, but end up in the streets, selling various goods. Thus, vending business has become the largest employer of the youth not only in Ilala, but also in other municipalities in Dar es Salaam.

But relationship between the vendors and the Ilala authorities has been that of ‘love-hate’. Frequent altercations between the city militia and the vendors in major city clean up operations is the order of the day. The vendors blame the city militia for confiscating and damaging their merchandise.

The authorities justify driving the vendors out of the streets for the purpose of de-congesting them, cleaning up the city littered by unregulated activities, curbing tax evasion and controlling epidemics like as cholera.

But the evictions carried out by the city militia have in most cases proved futile. The vendors always return to the streets after they removed. Whenever the askaris maintained a constant presence in the streets hawkers started plying their wares in the evening and through the night.

Attempts to designate special areas for hawkers and street vendors have often been futile because most of them have been refusing to move complaining that the areas are far from the city centre and therefore inaccessible by customers and that they lack proper infrastructure.

But now the Ilala authorities seem determined to solve the issue of the street hawkers and vendors once and for all.

Create designated areas

The authorities say street vendors and hawkers cannot be left to operate in the streets and in the undesignated areas. They will have to move to designated areas. It is not clear what plans the authorities have that will make them stay in the designated areas this time.

The areas that have been designated for Machinga in the Ilala Municipal Council are Tabata Muslim, Kinyerezi, Kigogo Fresh, Kivule Centre, Kivule Kereganze.

The municipality has also offered to close a section of the Lumumba Street/Mkunguni streets on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays to allow an open air market.

Ilala District Commissioner Sophia Mjema led the exercise to designate areas to all Ilala vendors in November 2 last year and said hawkers were to vacate the streets by November 11. But they are still in the streets.

She told them that those, who did not wish to shift to the designated areas should wait to conduct their businesses at the Lumumba and Mkunguni street open air markets on weekends.

The open market was supposed to start on November 11, 2016, but it has received little attention from the vendors, who are still in the Kariakoo streets, following President John Magufuli’s order for the them not to be disturbed.

At least 5,000 petty traders were expected to occupy one lane of the 1-kilometre long bi-lane Lumumba Street, while 1,800 hawkers were expected to run their businesses at the 600-metre long and eight metre wide Mkunguni Street.

As far as the designated market areas were concerned the hawkers were first supposed to shift to Kigogo Fresh and Kivule Kerezange areas because of the availability of market facilities such as stalls and latrines. The rest were to shift to other designated areas upon completion of constructing the infrastructure.

“The areas we have set aside for the vendors are not enough to accommodate all those, who conduct their business in the Ilala municipality’s streets. We would consult with other Dar es Salaam municipalities to ensure that they designate areas for hawkers who ply their trades in Ilala but reside elsewhere,” Ms Mjema noted.

Customers are key to new areas, say vendors

But most of the street vendors have so far refused to vacate and continue doing their businesses in the prohibited areas.

Speaking to The Citizen many said the designated areas were not conducive for doing business and that they were remote and inaccessible to customers.

Mr Jafari Rajabu, 27, a resident of Mbagala, who conducts his activities in Kariakoo says it is not possible for them to move to the designated areas that are not business friendly.

“We have responsibilities; families to feed, rent to pay, school fees. We have to be able sell stuff and we will sell them where there are customers,” he said, adding “they can force us to vacate but they must know that they will put most of us out of the business and they have to know that this will increase crime in the city.” Rashid Musa, 23, a Kariakoo vendor says he will move to a new area only if there are enough customers.

“I am ready to go anywhere the government wants me to go, but the place must be convenient and customers must be able to come easily,” he said.

The Citizen visited Kivule Kerezange Market, which is located outside the city and found very few vendors ranging from between eight to 10 of them. Ms Rose Elia, 39, a trader at Kivule Kerezange explained that she was forced to stay at Kerezange Market because she did not want her goods to be confiscated by the city militia.

Four years ago she has been conducting her business in Kariakoo but her merchandise were confiscated by the militia. She decided to move to Kerezange. She says in Kariako the business was profitable, she used to sell assorted merchandize including Vitenge, underwear, handkerchiefs and textbooks earning between Sh30,000 and Sh40, 000 per day.

“In Kariakoo the commodities were moving fast. The only problem was harassment by the city militia. I had to start all over again several times. So I decided to move out of Kariakoo,” she said.

She says business is very slow at Kerezange but she has no other option. “I just cannot stay at home. I have to help my husband but hear there are just not enough customers.”

“Our only customers are Kivule residents. But they are not may as the area is not well populated,” she adds. The views of Rashid and Rajab reflect the views of most vendors, which is: “we will move and stay in the new areas only if the businesses is good, if not we will be back.” In the past they have moved back to Kariakoo and the city centre from the designated areas due to lack of customers.

To make the new areas attractive to customers Ilala authorities have decided to chart out new commuter bus routes to increase accessibility of the areas.

A Senior Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority Beatrice Chao named the bus routes Ubungo-Kivule, Banana-Kivule and Karikao-Kivule. At least 60 commuter buses will be registered to ply the routes.

Awareness campaign

The Ilala Municipal authorities seem to try out a new weapon to have vendors move to designated areas willingly. Public Relations Officer Tabu Shaibu says that the municipality has already started an awareness campaign to persuade them relocate.

“We have not failed to relocate the street vendors, but what we are doing is to go step by step to educate them to ensure they understand why they have to move to the areas suited for doing business,” he said.

The Dar es Salaam City mayor Isaya Mwita told The Citizen in an interview recently that it is too early to say whether designating areas to machinga is the lasting solution to the problem.

The most important thing is to ensure all designated areas are improved in terms of infrastructure, sanitation, electricity and to make them vacate willingly without the use of force.

“The awareness campaign targets customers also. We have prepared Radio jingles that tell both buyers where to go to buy products from machinga and hawkers where to go to sell their products,” he said.