CLEAR THE STREETS, SAVE THE LIVELIHOODS

Katungu urges council to clean up the CBD without worsening vendors’ hardships, calling for dialogue and organised trading spaces

By Francis Maingaila ♥️

Lusaka, Zambia24 — 29-09-2026 — The debate over Lusaka’s streets has taken a sharper turn as the city council prepares to remove street vendors from undesignated trading areas.

While the council says it wants to bring order, ease congestion and make the central business district (CBD) cleaner, there are growing concerns about what will happen to people who depend on street trading to put food on the table.

Lusaka Mayor Simon Mwewa Chutambala told Zambia24 that the council would begin enforcing the removal of street traders after the September 29 deadline and move them into designated markets.

But Lusaka Central Constituency Youth Wing Information and Publicity Secretary Simon Rashid Katungu questioned whether simply pushing vendors off the streets would solve the problem.

He said the council should talk to the traders and find practical places where they can continue doing business without blocking roads and walkways.

“As much as we need our Central Business District to be clean, I think we should not add a problem while trying to solve another problem. To solve a problem, we need a solution,” Katungu said.

CHUTAMBALA: STREETS MUST BE CLEARED

Chutambala said September 29 was the final day for street vending and that enforcement would begin after the deadline.

He said the council had finished its preparations and was working with law enforcement agencies, with the operation now awaiting activation.

According to Chutambala, street vending was illegal and was making it harder for people and vehicles to move freely in the city.

But he said the council was not trying to take away people’s livelihoods.

Instead, he said, vendors should move into designated markets where they could continue selling their goods.

Chutambala said the council had about 8,000 registered street vendors, while designated markets had more than 15,000 available trading spaces. The figures were provided by the mayor and were not independently verified.

He questioned why some traders continued selling from the streets when, according to the council, there were spaces available in markets.

The mayor also alleged that some traders who had been given market spaces were renting them out to other people and then returning to the streets. He did not provide evidence for the allegation.

He pointed to City Market, where he said traders could operate for about K5 a day.

Chutambala said keeping traders in designated markets would also allow the council to collect revenue directly instead of leaving vendors at the mercy of people who might take money from them.

The mayor further alleged that some individuals he described as “cadres” were collecting money from street vendors and resisting efforts to move them into markets.

He named a person identified as Benjamin Chengo or Chongo, alleging that he had mobilised young people to protest against the council’s actions.

The allegation has not been independently verified, and the person named was not quoted responding to it.

Chutambala said the council had already moved about 200 people into a market near Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe Road as part of the relocation exercise. The figure and the status of those relocated could not be independently confirmed.

He also raised concerns about some foreign nationals whom he said were trading on the streets despite restrictions.

Chutambala said relevant authorities should deal with people alleged to be prohibited immigrants or refugees in accordance with the law. He did not provide specific cases.

He said the governing party’s official position was that street vendors should move into designated markets, adding that those taking a different position did not represent that stance.

Chutambala said the council had made its decision and would not change course, maintaining that the exercise was meant to bring back order, cleanliness and easier movement in the city.

KATUNGU: CLEAN CBD, BUT PROTECT LIVELIHOODS

Katungu said he had no problem with efforts to clean the CBD and reduce congestion.

His concern, he said, was what would happen to vendors once they were removed from the streets.

He said many people depended on the small businesses they ran every day and that the council should not take away their only source of income without first giving them workable alternatives.

“We respect the mayor, but he is using emotion instead of logic,” Katungu said.

He said the council should also look at the amount of plastic waste ending up in the CBD instead of putting the entire burden of the cleanup on street vendors.

Katungu mentioned companies such as Trade Kings and Shoprite, saying businesses whose products generate plastic waste should also play a role in collecting, recycling and finding ways of putting that waste to use.

The companies were not quoted responding to the suggestion.

“If we properly deal with plastics, we will not continue seeing plastics all over town. I think that should be the first step if we want to deal with cleanliness,” he said.

Katungu also believes the CBD has enough spaces that could be better organised instead of simply removing traders.

He suggested that some of the alleys could be used to group traders according to what they sell.

Vegetable sellers, for example, could be placed in one area while shoe sellers operate in another.

He said such an arrangement could help clear the main streets while allowing people to keep earning a living.

Katungu also questioned why vendors appeared to be the main target of the cleanup when other activities were taking place along city roads.

He pointed to mechanics operating along roads such as Freedom Way towards the Bible Society, saying the council needed to look at all activities contributing to congestion.

The council was not quoted responding specifically to that concern.

Katungu further suggested that some abandoned council properties could be put to use as trading spaces.

He said some properties had allegedly remained unused for more than 30 years and could instead be turned into places where traders could operate. The claim about the properties’ period of disuse was not independently verified.

He called for the council to sit down with traders and local political and community structures before enforcement begins.

Katungu said Lusaka Central Constituency stretches from Mumbwa Road to Berlin and that many people trading in the CBD come from outside the constituency.

He therefore argued that what happens to CBD traders could affect families and communities well beyond Lusaka Central.

He urged authorities to understand how the traders survive and learn from what happened in 2021 before carrying out another major removal exercise. He did not provide details of the events he referenced.

“Before the mayor and the council do everything else, they need to come on the ground and consult people on the ground,” Katungu said.

He warned that taking away people’s livelihoods without giving them somewhere else to trade could leave families struggling to survive and, in his view, create other social problems, including crime.

Katungu said the cleanup should therefore go hand in hand with dialogue, proper organisation and alternative trading spaces.

KAWIMBE: CONSULT BEFORE REMOVING VENDORS

The concerns have also been echoed by Lusaka resident Kawimbe Chanda, who appealed to Chutambala to consider the wider picture as the council moves against street vending.

Chanda said the mayor should first look at the condition of the council’s own properties, particularly the Simson Building along Lumumba Road, which he described as dirty and unreflective of the image of a clean and modern Lusaka.

He said the building should be considered for renovation, redesign or even demolition and reconstruction if that would improve the appearance of the city.

Chanda also urged the mayor to remember that running Lusaka was a much bigger responsibility than managing a single building.

He said street vendors should not simply be viewed as a problem to be removed because they were ordinary Zambians trying to earn a living and support their families.

“Street vendors are not your tenants, and they are not foreigners; they are your fellow Zambians trying to make a living and provide for their families,” Chanda said.

Chanda referred to the late President Michael Chilufya Sata’s position that street vendors should not be chased from the streets before alternative places were found for them to trade.

He said the lesson for the current administration was that removing people from their trading places without first providing alternatives could leave them exposed.

Chanda urged Chutambala not to make decisions without consulting the people directly affected.

“Before removing vendors from the streets, provide proper places where they can conduct their businesses,” he said.

He said Lusaka’s development should go hand in hand with compassion and practical solutions that protect the livelihoods of ordinary Zambians.

The debate now puts two immediate concerns side by side: the council’s determination to clear Lusaka’s streets and the call from Katungu and Chanda for the people affected to be heard and given workable alternatives.

For vendors who depend on each day’s sales to feed their families, the outcome of the council’s enforcement plan is not simply about where they trade. It could determine whether they continue earning a living from the businesses they have built on the streets.