Speaking at a recent Partnership, Participation and Programme (P3) roundtable meeting, representatives of the informal sector in Maun and surrounding villages called on the North-West District Council (NWDC) to construct market stalls from where to sell their merchandise. A well-serviced market could become a tourist attraction in its own right, they said, because in most African countries, curio and handicraft markets operated by the small businesses have become tourist attractions.
Faced with lack of a market, most informal traders are forced to engage in roadside hawking and in front of shops, resulting in an unsightly image of Maun. Due to a lack of markets and craft centres to showcase the area's cultural traditions, tourists are oblivious to what is on offer. Thus, basket makers, wood carvers and other such small craftspeople fail to benefit from tourism. Most established lodges have now taken to selling crafts that could benefit the poor man on the street. Since most of these lodges have a well-established international marketing network, this is to the detriment of small basket weavers. A representative of Bokopano Small Business Association, Magdalene Kerekang, decried harassment of small businesses by NWDC officials. An operation by the bye-law officials had recently cleared the small traders from both the old and the new malls, she said.
