Omuthiya open market collapses

Due to overcrowding at the Omuthiya open market, traders have vacated the area and moved out onto the B1 road to trade from there.The Omuthiya town council has reported that the open market can accommodate 200 vendors, but currently there are over 500 vendors trading there.This is a popular open market in northern Namibia and has been there since 1990, long before Omuthiya was proclaimed as a town in 2007. It reported that this makes it difficult for the council to control the open market.Vendors find the open market strategically located as it is along the B1 road and this means customers. Mostly vendors sell agricultural produce and they target those travelling to the south or further north.Eunike Tangi Nelenge says she has been operating from the open market since 2011 and the numbers of vendors have been increasing by the day.“There is no order at this open market. “Traders have moved outside the area and they are now operating along the road to make sure they secure customers as they are getting out of their vehicles. “This is because there are more traders than clients,” Nelenge says.Another vendor, Ester Shipena, says the open market does not attract the same number of customers as it did years ago. She complains that there is no order to the market and the customers become irritated at this.“The problem here is not customers, it's us, the vendors. “We have depleted the value of our open market by not operating in an orderly fashion. “Customers used to come buy their products inside the open market and business was good and we used to make money,” Shipena says.Shipena says in the past they used to make up to N$5 000 a day, but nowadays they are struggling.Omuthiya's CEO, Samuel Mbango, says the council plans to construct a new open market which will accommodate all the vendors and offer a better shopping experience.He says the current open market was donor sponsored and was constructed in collaboration with the Oshikoto Regional Council.“There is chaos at the open market. Many of the vendors are not registered for us to establish who should be there or not. “Their current mode of operation does not give a good image to the town and that is why we would like to create a new open market for them,” Mbango says.The town council has requested funding from the industrialisation and trade ministry, but Mbango says the process is slow and, therefore, the council is considering other sources of funding.The vendors say they do not want to be relocated because the current site exposes them to customers and they do not want to be hidden were customers will not see them.ILENI NANDJATO

Omuthiya open market collapses

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-07-02

Please login to leave a comment

Omuthiya open market collapses

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-07-02

Please login to leave a comment

Login