IT IS 10am and Tendai Moyo (not real name) is facing a hectic moment trying to serve sadza and relish to scores of customers who have swarmed her mobile kitchen in Gweru’s central business district (CBD).
Moyo’s clients, mostly touts at bus terminuses, shove each other as they impatiently wait to be served.
Moyo is one of several other enterprising women in the Midlands capital who have turned to mobile kitchens to eke a living amid a biting economy that has resulted in high unemployment rates.
“Mobile kitchens are fast and they afford great mobility compared to the traditional kitchens. We make brisk business here, selling sadza,” she told NewsDay Weekender.
“Kitchens on wheels offer convenience to our customers who are mostly informal traders, touts and others who don’t have time to go to traditional kitchens, most of them which are located on the peripheries of the CBD.
“We bring food to our clients instead of them labouring to come to us.”
In the past months, the Midlands capital has witnessed a proliferation of a new phenomenon of kitchens on wheels that has worried health authorities.
Most of the kitchens are not registered and operate illegally.
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Gweru has, over the years, not been spared by disease outbreaks such as typhoid and cholera that claimed people’s lives.
Last week, the council issued a stern warning against mobile kitchen operators.
“Please be advised that all mobile kitchens operating from caravans in various areas of the City of Gweru are required to remove them immediately,” the local authority said in a statement.
“These caravans are operating illegally and failure to comply will result in council confiscating them.”
However, despite the warning, mobile kitchen operators continue to play the cat and mouse game with municipal police.
“We are just like any other illegal vendor operating in the city who needs to put food on the table for their families. Although we understand the health concerns, we have no choice.
“After all, we have many people at all corners in the city illegally selling food stuffs, from fish to chicken pieces. So we are not an exception,” said a mobile kitchen operator, who only identified herself as MaSibanda.
Gweru city health director Sam Sekenhamo said the local authority had not approved mobile kitchens due to hygiene concerns associated with them.
“Mobile kitchens have not been approved for use due to several risk factors associated with them and these include inadequate space for food preparations as well as space for storage,” he said.
“If you go to these caravans, you find out that there are no facilities to keep food hot. There is no potable water supply and some even use them as sleeping quarters, hence hygiene is compromised, thereby exposing people to food contamination.”
Gweru Hawkers and Vendors Association chairperson Lovemore Tingaka said mobile kitchen vendors are being pushed by the economic situation and are trying to eke a living.
“We understand the health concerns of council authorities, but the harsh economic realities are pushing residents to try everything possible to make a living,” he said.
“In future, I suggest council should consider constructing food preparation sites just as they build vending bays for other informal traders.”
But for Moyo and other mobile kitchen operators, they said they are prepared for running battles with municipal cops as long as they have to make a living for their families.
