The Zambian Civil Liberties Union (ZCLU) has supported the Lusaka City Council’s efforts to clean up Lusaka and relocate street vendors to designated trading areas.
ZCLU Executive Director Isaac Mwanza stated that Lusaka deserves orderly, clean and properly regulated public spaces.
Mwanza added that the union strongly condemns remarks attributed to the Mayor suggesting that refugees are prohibited immigrants.
He observed that this claim is patently false and risks creating unnecessary hostility and discrimination against refugees and other foreign nationals.
Mwanza noted that refugees are not prohibited immigrants and that Zambia hosts approximately 105,000 of them.
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He advanced that over 30,000 persons within refugee populations were born in Zambia and have never fled another country.
Mwanza said that refugees are not provided with monthly incomes by Government or the international community and must engage in ordinary economic activities.
This came to light in a statement issued in Lusaka following the Mayor’s remarks about street vendors and refugees.
He affirmed that refugees have contributed to agriculture, trade and local economies in the communities where they live.
Mwanza emphasised that the street-vending problem should not be blamed primarily on refugees or immigrants.
