Street vendors operating from China Town in the Northen Industrial Area, led by social justice activists Michael Amushelelo and Shaun Gariseb, made their way to the City of Windhoek headquarters to get clarity on the legal basis of why they were removed from their trading places without any written directive.
After failing to secure police escort, the vendors took their demonstration to the sidewalk and headed to the City of Windhoek headquarters.
The two activists, along with three vendors who represented others, had an extensive close-door engagement for almost two hours with Mayor Sakarias Uunona, Chief Executive Officer Moses Matjayi and other senior officials to try and come up with a solution.
Activist Shawn Gariseb said the situation currently at China Town is far from normal with hardly any customers in the area, highlighting how important they are for business operation in the area.
He requested that the vendors be given enough time to engage each other and make formal applications to enable them to operate in the area.
"So these people told us that tomorrow in writing, they are going to give us something in writing which will also have conditions. They will have conditions to say, Okay, if we are to go forward like this, and if you are going to start trading from Saturday or from Monday, these will be the conditions., So that is where we stood."
Activist Michael Amushelelo pointed out that despite small businesses contributing to the GDP, the government fails to provide formal areas for trading.
He further encouraged the vendors to establish an association to represent them and ensure that some economic benefits are used to improve their trading environment, adding that their removal was unlawful.
"By law, you cannot just remove someone from a place simply on the basis that you want to remove them. You must go to court. You must go argue in court as to why you want to remove this person. You guys did not start trading there yesterday. You have been trading there all your life. So, what the city order has done procedurally is bring an application to have you formally removed from there."
Amushelelo added that he plans to submit an application to sue the city for them to reimburse the funds lost by vendors during the days they are not able to trade.