Democracy
and Human Rights Commission of the 30th met on November
2007 to discuss the evacuation of Street vendors in the street of
Maseru.
The
matter was presented by Khathang Tema Bait’sukuli Association (
KTBA) to the Commission. KTBA
presented that Maseru City Council, with the assistance of the
Lesotho Mounted Police Service personnel evacuated all the street
vendors from the Kingsway Road and the adjacent streets. KTBA
alleged that MCC evacuates the vendors from the streets of Maseru
every festive season.
The
reason provided by the MCC is that the evacuated street vendors
are not registered and such are illegally trading on the streets
of Maseru. MCC agreed to come to negotiations with the street
vendors but refused to recognise KTBA as the representative of the
street vendors. Instead it prefers to work with its favourable
structure called Coordination Committee.
KTBA
further presented that MCC congests all the street vendors in one
market place near Makhetheng. That place has several problems,
namely, (1) it is not a good trading place as it is far from the
market, (2) it is vulnerable to weather conditions such as rain
and the heat of the sun (3) it also has the problem of limited
space.
KTBA
also presented that there were other human rights issues related
to the manner in which LMPS personnel conducted itself. There were
instances of assaults and unjustified use of force.
2
Human Rights Issues from the Presentation
2.1
Several human rights emerged from the presentation by KTBA.
The first issue was the use of force by the police during the
operating. The
meeting agreed that use of force by the police in such
circumstance is uncalled for. It is therefore an action point for
the Commission.
2.2
Another issue raised was that the laws used by the MCC to
evacuated the street vendors are outdated as they were only
promulgated in 1971
2.3
The issue of the street vendors’ socio-economic rights
was raised. The street vendors have a right to trade in Lesotho
and the MCC’s determination to frustrate the enjoyment of such a
right is inimical to established norms and standards of good
governance.
