Africa-Press – Botswana. Gaborone City Council (GCC) has put in place a special dispensation to collect P15 million debt owed by vendors and hawkers operating in the bus rank stalls.
Addressing the media last week, Gaborone city mayor Mr Oarabile Motlaleng said those occupying stalls would however be allowed to operate until December, while they established payment plans to settle their debts.
Mr Motlaleng said some market occupants did not have contracts with the council, as their stalls had been sub-let to them by contractual tenants. Such tenants, he said, were reportedly paying P50 per month to the council, while charging the sub-tenants about P4 000.
He added that in 2016, a resolution was passed to revert the market stalls back to the council because the then-contractual tenants were failing to pay their dues. He also noted that the original contracts came full circle in 2025 and a court order was subsequently issued for all 191 Gaborone market stall occupants to be evacuated.
“This move is to allow developers to take over the markets and renovate them,” he said.
He further said developers were expected to consider prioritising the tenants who had occupied the stalls at the end of the contract cycle, despite their outstanding debt.
“This consideration is what led to the extension of the tenants’ stay until the end of December,” he added.
On other issues affecting vendors and hawkers at the Gaborone station and bus rank, Mayor Motlaleng said the council would engage in a crackdown on all illegal businesses and foreigners. He said they would evacuate those who were not officially housed by the council in the stalls, but had erected gazebos.
“All those who run illegal businesses in the bus rank should vacate. All foreigners running businesses in Gaborone City market stalls should also vacate,” he said.
He said the council continued to remove foreigners from all small business establishments in the city, saying ‘this action is not intended to steer unrest in the city or the country’. He said the council had demarcated spaces for local hawkers and had appealed to every hawker to register with them.
“It was extended that everywhere in Gaborone City where there were centres, those people could go to register there. There is a reason for that. It was a deliberate move that after demarcation, everyone should occupy their spaces. That was a way to remove foreigners,” he explained.
He acknowledged that Batswana fronted for foreigners to occupy market stalls, saying ‘Batswana approach foreigners to take up spaces in their name. The council is actively monitoring the spaces to curb these transfer’.
Mr Motlaleng also told the media that the current occupation of spaces was also temporary and was being discussed with the public through town hall meetings.
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