A group of women vendors who were operating in Marol market in the Jonglei State capital, Bor town, have criticized their forceful eviction from the market and said the new place allocated to them by the mayor is far from their customers.
The women were asked to vacate the market two weeks ago and protested the decision by demonstrating on the streets of Bor town on Monday.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Ayak Mayom, a representative of the affected women, said they rejected the new site because shoppers cannot easily access it.
“We used to sell vegetables like onions, tomatoes, greens, and even other commodities like cooking oil from a section of Marol market next to where meat is sold but early this month, the government relocated us to a place outside the market,” Ayak said. “There, we lost our customers because they prefer to buy groceries from the foreign traders who remained in the market. The place we were given is far.”
The businesswoman said their eviction from the market made them lose income so they decided to protest after the local government failed to listen to their pleas to stop the ejection.
“Before the relocation, one could make a profit of SSP 10, 000 a day but now getting even 1,000 is difficult. So, how will we survive? Also, the new site is flood-prone,” Ayak said. “For these reasons, we decided to protest and relocate to the main market in defiance of the eviction order.”
Another businesswoman, who only identified herself as Nyaluak, also asked the government to reverse the decision.
“After we were relocated from the place in the Marol market where the government said a road is supposed to pass, other traders remained behind selling vegetables in shops, meaning our customers will not bother to come to our new place,” she said. “So, that is why we are protesting. We told the mayor to ban those selling vegetables in shops in the market and also relocate the sale of meat to the new place which was given to us or else we defy his order and wait for what they will do.”
Responding to women vendors, Bor Town Mayor Samuel Aeny Pech said he noted their concern but insisted his decision was based on the town’s development plan.
“They have now been in the new place (market) for three weeks. They were occupying roads and had 99 stalls and we asked them to leave because we are renovating the roads and they even witnessed it,” he said. “They are now telling us that for them to continue at the new place, we should ban foreign traders selling vegetables in the market or else we take butchery to their place. We noted their concern and we agreed that they give us 7 days to complete the road renovation and then we will decide as a committee.”