At a Gaborone West nightclub, vendors were chased around and locked up in cells by the G-West police. At the main mall, vendors had their equipment confiscated by the police.
In this edition, we report of an incident in which another vendor, a mechanic, who fixes cars from his home, was raided by the City bye-law enforcement officers for operating without a licence. It would seem the City Council has a problem in understanding what a street vendor is, in that in the case of food vendors, the council demands that the vendors should prepare their food in proper kitchens, whose standards correspond well with those of restaurants. In the case of the Old Naledi mechanic who was raided lately, the bye-law officers demanded that he should not operate from his home. Perhaps, it is time the experts lectured the City Council about the vendors. By their nature, vendors are those traders who do not have the means to run what one would call a proper business. These are poor people who prepare food from their homes, or in the open using various utensils just to earn a living. They would naturally operate from the back yard because they do not have the necessary financial wherewithal to run a proper restaurant, or a proper garage. Then there are also those boys who live by a bag of oranges they carry on their shoulders, selling them from house-to-house in order to make ends meet. Others sell sweets, and newspapers at the bus and taxi ranks to survive.
