Council confiscates vendors’ containers

Some vendors from Limbe and Blantyre markets thronged Blantyre City Council’s (BCC) Fire Brigade premises at Ginnery Corner yesterday to get their merchandise from containers the council confiscated on Sunday and Monday.

BCC officials confiscated and moved containers that were placed in undesignated places and operating illegally in Limbe and at Mibawa in Blantyre to its Ginnery Corner division. The containers were taken using cranes in the presence of heavily armed police officers.

When The Nation crew visited the BCC’s Fire Brigade site yesterday, scores of angry and desperate vendors were fighting to get their merchandise from the confiscated containers. This decision was arrived at when city officials, including the Mayor Wild Ndipo, were locked in a meeting on Tuesday with the owners of the containers to map the way forward.

The Nation further established that most of the containers were being managed by businesspersons to keep vendors’ goods in the two markets.

Limbe Vendors Committee chairperson Donald Mpasu said the city’s move had affected their business for two days.

“We have lost business because of this sudden move by the council. From Monday until today [Tuesday], we haven’t been able to conduct our business. This has largely affected our families,” said Mpasu.

But the mayor defended the move, saying they have embarked on a drive to keep the city clean.

“You may recall that one of the priorities of BCC is to take back a clean city to the people,” he said. n