Vendors Complain Of Low Business

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Monday August 23, 2010 00:00

 

The vendors who have become an integral part of the public transport industry. 

The vendors have come to understand the language of the vendors who sell various  merchandise like magazines, airtime, food snacks, soft drinks, bottled water, you name it. 

The vendors mostly target the long distance buses. 

They are found in places like Gaborone, Maun, Letlhakane, Serowe, Palapye, Francistown and Mahalapye. 

In places like Palapye where their speciality is chips and chicken, the business has been in operation for a long time.

These shrewd entrepreneurs know when to board the bus and jump out.  

Of course, at times, the vendors are a nuisance to the passengers because they are noisy.

But they also add excitement to your trip. 

In Francistown, one of the vendors, an elderly man protested that the passengers do not buy his goods.  He was clearly not amused and he made it known.  'So how do you expect me to survive,' he pleaded with them but nobody took notice of what he was saying.

With the high rate of unemployment, many Batswana have been forced into self- employment. 

Lucky Selake is one of the people who has ventured into the bus rank business.  He sells fried food packs.  He buys his stock from the nearby supermarket and then adds his mark up.

Selake, who originates from Mangkgodi, has been in business since 1998. Selake rents a house in Mogoditshane. He has been surviving for more than 10 years.  His day starts at 7.00am but when it is busy, he comes earlier. Prime time is at weekends, especially month-end. 

He says business used to be good but now there are too many operators at the bus rank.

Although it is tough, Selake believes that operating his own business is better than idling at home.  Selake also employs two other people in this business.

He did not do well at school and this is why he took to this business.

Another 'veteran' vendor, is Nelson Tshomane who has been operating at the Gaborone Bus rank for 11 years. 

He sells ice water, soft drinks and Hungry Lion chicken and chips packages. 

Tshomane has been surviving from hand to mouth because he is operating a small business. 

'I am looking after my six other family members. I am renting a house in Gabane.  When it is busy I start my day at 6.00am,' he says.

To him, being a small entrepreneur is better than when he was working at a shop.  'I am able to tend to my family members.'

Tshomane says they are looking for assistance from the government so that they could set up established businesses. 

He says their customers take into account their security.  They prefer to buy when they are inside the bus because it is safer. 

The customers feel that they could be robbed when they are outside especially when they are carrying large sums of money.Tshomane spoke about incidents when some of the vendors steal from passengers. He says when there are such cases they hand the suspects to the police. 

He says some bus operators are not sympathetic to their plight because they do not allow them to sell from their vehicles.  But there are other bus operators who are cooperative. 

Another vendor, Segametsi Motshabi complained of harassment by the city council by-law enforcement officers.   She says the council officials are always targeting them and confiscating their goods. 

'If the council was not harassing us, I could say there is good business,' she says. 

Motshabi has acquired a car through her business.  She decided to buy a car because it was costly to book a cab for stock.  Another vendor, Gaopalelwe Mooki, complained about harassment by the council officials.  He accuses them of confiscating their structures where they store stock. 

He says the Gaborone City Council is raising funds by fining them.  He accuses the city council of robbing the poor.

He says the council officers confiscated his meat pies and food packages. 'If you confiscate our goods, how do you expect us to survive.  If the council does not want us at the bus rank, they should provide another lucrative  place,' he says.

'We can't find jobs and we are not educated. So how do you expect us to make ends meet:' he asked.

Mooki says the government should consider that they have employed people. 'But we are still harassed by the authorities.  We have hired young boys who were stealing.  But the authorities have no regard for us'.

Mooki  has built a house in his home village in Kgatleng. He also paid for his bride price.  He has also invested in cattle through his business. 

'It is not easy to get a CEDA loan.  You have to own something in order to qualify. We are forced by poverty to do this type of business.

But it is better than if you are exploited as a labourer for a Chinese company,' he says. 

Another man says he sends his children to school from the money he makes at the bus rank.  He says if they are kicked out of the bus rank, it is going to increase  the rate of crime.  'We would be forced to steal'.

But a bus driver, Solomon Bonisa, does not want to have anything to do with the vendors because they are a nuisance. He says they harass passengers.

Bonisa says the vendors rush to board the bus, leaving passengers stranded. 'We lose business because of them. When they get into a bus, the passengers assume that it is full,' he says.

He says the police do not allow the vendors to trade inside the buses. He says there have been instances when they have robbed passengers. 

Bus assistant, Motlogelwa Rapula, agrees that the vendors give them a hard time.