Qacha's Nek Vendors Take On Town Council

QACHA'S NEK – Vendors in Qacha's Nek have filed a court case against the town council which they say is depriving them of a right to a livelihood by chasing them away from their stalls.

The vendors told magistrate Mohlehli Mohleli this week that the town council is depriving them their right to a livelihood by removing them from plots from which they sell their wares.

They alleged that the Qacha's Nek council was refusing to allocate the plots to them.

The court heard this week that the street vendors had arbitrarily taken some pieces of land around the taxi rank and they were using these for their own businesses without permits from the council.

Some of the vendors have already built their shacks there where they sell food while others sell secondhand clothes.
Others only have chairs and tables in front of them where they sell snacks.

They said they will starve if they are stopped from selling their wares while others said they will not be able to pay school fees for their children as well as monthly rentals for their homes.

They further indicated that the council only give sites to those they favoured or those who pay bribes.

They told the court that they had applied for plots to do their businesses but the council never responded to their requests.

The local government market regulations in every council stipulate that all plots should be allocated to vendors after they are given permits.

The council told Magistrate Mohlehli that the street vendors are ignoring clear regulations that they cannot operate their businesses in town without permits.

They can only be allowed to trade if the permits have been properly issued to them and they should work only at their designated plots.

The council said it has tried several times to stop the street vendors from taking the law into their own hands but all in vain.

The vendors, the council told the court, responded by saying“lela le lapileng ha le na tsebe”, loosely translated a hungry person knows no law.

“They act as if when they stop doing their business on the unallocated plots they will have no other means to get food,” the council told the court.

This case is a slight deviation to the one launched by vendors in 2005 in which they claimed the Maseru City Council (MCC) was denying them their right to life.

The Maseru street vendors sought relief against a municipality eviction order contending that their“right to life”, guaranteed under section 5 of the Constitution, was being violated.

The argument was that their eviction from the street pavements where they plied their trade endangered their means of livelihood hence their right to life.

The Constitutional Court held that“the right of life” guaranteed under section 5 of the Constitution does not include a socio-economic right like“livelihood”.

The vendors appealed against the decision and the Court of Appeal observed that the affidavits did“not establish a threat to actual survival arising from the relocation of the stalls, imminent or gradual”.

The Court of Appeal found that the vendors' case rested most centrally on the proposition that the traders' right to a livelihood was imperilled and that the right to life under Lesotho's Constitution encompasses these rights.

The essential question for determination was whether the right to life in Lesotho encompasses the right to a livelihood.

The court found that the protection accorded by the right relates to life in the ordinary sense of human existence.

It said Lesotho has dealt with what are generally described as socio-economic rights (or“green rights”) in a way which is distinct from the treatment of fundamental rights (or“blue rights”).

The court said the constitution provides that“Lesotho shall endeavour to ensure that every person has the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts”.

The right to life appeal was dismissed.

Now, the Qacha's Nek vendors are clinging on the constitutional provision that“every person has the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts”.

Thooe Ramolibeli

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