Omuthiya cracks down on street vendors

The Omuthiya Town Council is cracking down on street vendors, demanding they relocate to a new open market by the end of January or face penalties.

The council resolved that all street vendors at Omuthiya will no longer be trading their goods in the open space along the main road, as the town council has constructed a new open market.

The Omuthiya Town Council during the 2022/23 financial year embarked on constructing the new open market.

In a notice, Omuthiya chief executive Martin Shuuya is inviting all the vendors at the town to register themselves and relocate to the designated area of trading before the end of January.

“Registration will take place from 1 December until 2 January 2026. All the registered vendors will be allocated a trading spot at the new open market.

Vendors are required to vacate their current locations and move to the designated trading area at Omuthiya by Friday, 30 January, 2026,” he says.

He says any non-registered vendor found operating on the streets will be deemed as operating illegally.

Failure to register and relocate to the new open market will result in penalties, fines and the confiscation of goods, as stipulated in the council’s tariff structure, Shuuya says.

Amalia Shikudule, a vendor who operates from the old trading area along the main road, is opposed to the move, saying customers would not want to visit the new market.

“Why are they moving us to a place that is far from the main road? Who will want to go there? Our customers are used to making stopovers here and quickly grabbing something to munch on.

“Here, we stay up until late, but at the new open market they will enforce strict operating hours, and as a result our customers will not be able to buy their items at any time when travelling. We really don’t want to move anywhere,” she says.

The new open market is said to bring all informal traders together at one formalised area, where they will be selling their goods in a more hygienic and conducive environment.

The second phase of the new open market was constructed at an amount of N$3 million.

The old Omuthiya trading area has been operating since 1990, long before Omuthiya was proclaimed a town in 2007.

The new open market will accommodate about 500 vendors once completed.

The vendors mostly sell agricultural produce and traditional items, and target those travelling beyond the veterinary cordon fence and local residents.

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