Bus Rank food vendors thrown out

 

Food vendors who have been operating at the Gaborone Bus Rank have been evicted from their stalls following months of uncertainty over their future at the facilities.

According to those affected, sheriffs accompanied by police officers recently arrived at the stalls to remove the traders and their belongings.

The affected vendors say the move has left them without income, with some fearing they will struggle to support their families after losing businesses they had relied on for years.

“We are out; there is nothing we can do. We tried to fight this, but obviously we cannot do anything. All we did was try to fend for our children and provide for our families, but now we are being thrown into poverty,” an affected trader said.

According to those who have now been evicted, the process is being carried out in small numbers.

They claim that four traders were removed from their stalls a few days ago and fear that more evictions will follow in the coming days. The affected vendors decried that the stalls were not merely places where they sold food, but their primary source of income.

For some, the daily takings from selling cooked food paid for food at home, school needs, transport and other household expenses.

Meanwhile, the latest evictions have consequently heightened anxiety among those who remain at the Bus Rank, with traders uncertain about when they too could be removed.

Those operating makeshift stalls fear they may arrive at the Bus Rank one day only to find their structures razed to the ground.

The evictions are the latest development in a dispute that has been unfolding for months following changes at the Bus Rank, where Gaborone City Council (GCC) has handed a private developer, Silver Pack Investments, a 30-year lease to revamp and modernise the facility.

Traders operating from the market stalls previously paid P700 per month to Council. They later received letters instructing them to vacate their stalls or face a new monthly rental of P2 500.

The proposed rental increase left many traders wondering if it was a ploy to evict them, especially since they had been operating under arrangements with Council.

Repeated efforts to get a comment from the developer, Thabo Molefe, who is the director of Silver Pack Investments, proved futile as he was said to be out of office and did not respond to messages left for him.