Greetings to you all members of ZCIEA across Zimbabwe, I would like to take this opportunity to celebrate International Vendors Day with you. International Vendors Day is celebrated on the 14th of November of each year. This year 2022 is a special year because it marks the 20th Anniversary of StreetNet International. StreetNet International was established on the 14th of November in 2002. StreetNet International has continued to grow and to date has over 700 000 members globally in the 4 regions of America, Africa, Asia and Europe.
As we celebrate this special day today, all the affiliates of StreetNet are celebrating in different ways. We have been through the hard times of the pandemic, we were facing hard economic times, we have been through times of lack of opportunity to work and also times of having no income. We have seen times and continue to face violence and harassment from different angles because our workplace is the public space. As we continue to fight and struggle for even the workspaces, we continue to fight and struggle for extension of social protection to informal economy workers. We believe that together we can have a voice that will help us to realise our needs, our demands and also a voice that will make us be able to articulate our issues in a manner that will bring government and all stakeholders to the realisation that street vendors are not a public nuisance, but they are a contributor to the national GDP as well as the public health systems. Why the public health systems, because of the height of the pandemic, we worked tirelessly, hand in hand with some local authorities in a bid to beat the pandemic, to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Our members were instrumental in community programs to prevent the pandemic and we continue to provide communities with essential services. We are more of essential workers than a public nuisance. As we celebrate this day, I wish you all a fruitful and productive day and it is my belief that together, we shall be able to change our circumstances. May we continue to tirelessly work on demanding the rights that are ours, the change that we want to see from being regarded as outcasts to being respected as legitimate workers and citizens of Zimbabwe. Nothing For Us Without Us, I thank you.
ZCIEA / StreetNet International President Lorraine Sibanda