Government has maintained that street vending is illegal and no one will be allowed to do business on the streets of Lusaka.

The Ministry of local government says that once the market being built for the street vendors is completed, the vendors will have no excuse to trade on the streets.

Local Government Minister Vincent Mwale says he issued a Statutory Instrument (SI) banning street vending in Zambia emphasizing that it has to be respected.

The Minister was speaking in an interview with Money FM News via telephone.

Meanwhile the Lusaka City council has threatened to arrest members of the public found buying goods on the streets along with the vendors.

The council says this is in a bid to completely curb street vending from the city of Lusaka.

LCC Public Relations Manager George Sichimba says patrols by council police officers will be intensified to ensure that street vending is completely curbed.

Mr. Sichimba says this is because the council has observed that the people that buy from the vendors are the reason why the trend cannot be stopped.

He has warned members of the public to stop buying any product from the street as it obstructs the council’s efforts from making further progress on the matter.

Street Vending was completely banned from the city following the cholera outbreak that rocked the city in October 2017 and was declared over in May 2018.

Authorities have since intensified patrols to ensure that the activity does not take place anymore.

However, street vendors are slowing going back on the streets more especially in Kamwala and Central Business District.