Scores of mobile service booths in Kabwe Central Business District (CBD) have been razed in a joint operation of council and state police which was conducted in the early hours of Tuesday.
The shelters mainly for Airtel, MTN, Zamtel and Zoona were brought down when officers swung into action at dawn.
Most agents for the mobile service providers operating in the booths were greeted with shocked when they reported for work in the morning and found their shelters rundown.
Kabwe town clerk Ronald Daka who justified the action, said the move targeted those operators without a license from the local authority to operate in the respective areas.
Mr Daka said it was sad that some traders had continued to conduct business in undesignated places without authority from the council.
“We are not going to tolerate anarchy in town just like in villages where law and order prevails but for those with receipts we want to apologize for the inconveniency caused and come to the offices with receipt,” Mr Daka said.
Some affected operators said it was sad that the local authority brought down the booths even when they had paid levy to the council and tax to the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA).
Ruth Kamwendo said the council would have informed the agents about the move before raiding the business booths to allow them remove their items they kept in the shelters.
“I started operating in 2016 and by then we had already paid K725 and every month we pay the tax of 15 percent to ZRA,” she said.
Another agent Beatrice Mwale appealed to the local authority to rescind the decision to preserve the jobs of the agents and attract investment in Kabwe.
She noted that more people were investing were currently investing in Kabwe and urged the local authority to be accommodating to those creating job opportunities.

_________________________________________
MONEY FM IS ZAMBIA’S FIRST AND ONLY BUSINESS & PERSONAL FINANCE RADIO STATION. WE FOCUS ON BUSINESS AND MONEY-RELATED TOPICS, AS WELL AS GENERAL NEWS AND DISCUSSION OF WIDER SOCIAL TOPICS SUCH AS HEALTH, EDUCATION, FOOD, MUSIC, FITNESS AND MORE
_____________________________________________