Mangaliso Kabulika
HARARE’S Mupedzanhamo flea market is set to reopen after being closed for three years for renovations.
The market’s closure was also due to Covid-19, with renovations, which began after the pandemic, causing an additional year of delay.
Harare City Council is urging vendors and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to register at district offices in line with the new SME policy in order to create an SME database.
For each collection from vendors, 25 percent will go towards a revolving fund to benefit them.
Harare City Council’s SMEs committee chairperson, Danford Ngadziore, said registration will help council in its planning.
“This will also inform the City budget planning process. The 25 percent revolving fund will be ring-fenced for small projects only for registered vendors.
“The money will be used for infrastructure development focusing on market stores,” he said.
In October last year, the Harare City Council said Mupedzanhamo flea market was now overpopulated.
A Council spokesperson said they wanted to relocate some of the vendors to new sites.
It was also revealed that the Harare City Council were also losing millions of dollars to space barons and cartels who had connections to powerful figures within and outside the council.
These cartels were reported to be making millions of dollars from council markets and, in the process, depriving the capital of revenue it badly needed to fund its operations.
The markets where this rot was prevalent included Mupedzanhamo, Mbare Musika and the Glen View Area 8 Furniture Complex.