Many street vendors around Otavi continue to vent their frustration, as they have no open market to sell their goods.

The town does not have an open market for vendors, which forces some to commute as far as Etunda farm, some 33km away from Otavi to sell their goods, such as dried meat, sour milk, fruit and vegetables, which they say is costly.

Vendors selling on the outskirts of Otavi pay N$20 per day to sell at the service station.

One such vendor is Andreas Hafenanye, who started selling sour milk in 2010.

Although he says business is doing well and can assist his family financially, Hafenanye bemoaned the travelling costs they incur daily to commute from Otavi to Etunda.

“We came here because there is no open market in Otavi where we can sell our goods. We want an open market in Otavi so we don’t have to suffer commuting to Etunda. Now we are forced to sleep here at the service station at Etunda if we don’t get customers so we get transport money to hike back to Otavi,” he narrated.

Otavi Mayor Isaac !Hoaeb acknowledged there is a small open market that is not developed, and it is not fit for business.

“A month ago, we engaged all street vendors. We have two different types of vendors. There are those selling inside the town and others are selling on the outskirts of town. We don’t have land near B1 where we can put up an open market to cater to both groups of vendors,” he noted.

!Hoaeb said the town council has land opposite the new Shell service station but the earmarked land for the open market belongs to Ohlthaver and List (O&L). “We are in the process to engage O&L to ask if we can swap the two plots. We are waiting for a response from O&L.”

According to him, there is an amount of about N$200 000 budgeted by the town council for an open market.

The mayor revealed that B2Gold also promised to come on board and assist financially to realise an open market.

“We called all the vendors in town and said we have these options because we believe in community engagement. We discovered there are two groups who want to stay at the B1 road where their customers are, while others say their customers are in town. We have learned that in many towns, state-of-the-art open markets have become white elephants because they are not located where customers go. So, the easy one is to set up an open market for vendors inside the town,” he said.

However, the only available land inside the town where the council wants to set up an open market belongs to TransNamib.

He said the company initially agreed the town council could use some portion of its land to set up an open market and a small recreational area for residents.

“We wrote the letter to TransNamib, asking to utilise some of its portion of land. We heard there were initial talks for the town council to use the land. However, TransNamib responded that they are selling their land,” he said.

Otavi CEO Wedibo Haulofu on 18 July 2022 wrote to Trans Namib requesting consent to utilise a portion of land (railway reserve) for the construction of an open market, bus and taxi terminal.

On 23 August 2022, TransNamib CEO Johny Smit responded to Haulofu the land is up for sale.

“The railway reserve, which may be suitable for the suggested construction, is our prime land on which we have already received several applications for commercial development. These applications, however, could not be considered favourably, as the property is among the identified properties for alienation,” Smit wrote.

Equally, TransNamib informed Otavi council that the company is unfortunately not able to consider their request to occupy the property, as it is up for auction.

The mayor said they resolved in the council meeting to go and engage TransNamib in Windhoek so they explain to them what they want to do with the requested land.

“This is another challenge we are facing in realising an open market. This is where we are in terms of an open market,” !Hoaeb said. – anakale@nepc.com.na