Transport strike paralyses informal sector
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Monday May 23, 2022 04:57
This follows a decision by the local public transport operators to down tools on Tuesday in protest over high operational costs. The public transport operators are protesting that the government increases fares due to the raising fuel prices that negatively affected their business. However, the strike did not only affect the public who uses public transport to and from work, schools and different destinations but the street vendors as well.
In an interview with Mmegi, 52-year-old Goitseone Reboele who sells fruits, sweets and airtime said there has been no business since Tuesday resulting in most of her perishable stock rotting. Besides, there were a number of spoiled bananas.
She explained that even though she wanted to stay home because of poor or no sales at all, she was forced to go to the bus rank and try selling her stock, which was also a drawback since she was losing money.
“When I bought these bananas, they were still fresh. Most of them were green but now many are spoiled. These boxes here have many spoiled bananas. It is painful for me because I am supporting my children with the little profits I make here. Our leaders do not care about us. They live comfortable lives in their mansions with food and air conditioners whilst we struggle to feed our children. They are relaxed because they don’t know what we are going through. Yesterday I threw some of my stock and today too. There is no use of coming here,” she sadly said showing a pile of boxes with rotten bananas.
For her part, Prisca Motlogelwa who sells hotdogs said their current situation reminded her of the lockdown era. She explained that she already bought many hotdog rolls and sausages with hope that business would be normal but unfortunately they had to throw away rotten bread. Motlogelwa also said if public transport fares were to be increased it was going to bring a negative impact on business.
“We have being selling our hotdogs for P17 but people always complain that it is expensive. We are then forced to reduce prices to P15. If transport fees are increased, possibility of our business going down is high. Today I was forced to walk all the way from Gaborone West to bus rank carrying my heavy stock. I had to do it because I have children to feed and give money for school transport. This strike is negatively affecting us,” she said.
Forty-five -year-old Tshepo Moabi said she bought many chickens and potato bags a day before the strike with the hope of selling as usual. To her dismay, the strike hindered her from selling her stock for the past two days since she could not find transport from Mochudi to Gaborone.
She was fortunate enough to find transport on Thursday to go to her stall, but unfortunately the bus terminal was empty. Moabi said on a normal day by 10am she would have sold five or more full chicken pieces with French chips, but she was still selling the one chicken she cooked early in the morning.
“People no longer come to the bus rank because there are no buses and combis coming here. Yesterday I had to go back home early because there was no business. On Tuesday I could not get transport back home because I live outside Gaborone. My children had to sleep alone on empty stomach since I was not there to cook for them,” said 50-year-old Lucia Tobetsa.
For Tshiamo Diteko, she worked on Wednesday but unfortunately she had to take the food she cooked for sale home because there was no business. Even though she made a few sandwiches, and was selling a few Russians and pies she said none were bought which was not normal. On a normal business day she said those foods could be finished and she would have cooked another batch.
Diteko said she lost a lot of money in the past few days of the strike calling on the government and public transport operators to negotiate while the transport is operating so that they too could make money.
She added that she depended on the profits to buy electricity, pay rent, buy groceries which were also costly for her family and pay transport fees for her children.