Oshana vendors’ businesses ‘thrive’ on election day

Many street vendors in Oshana region have taken election day as an opportunity for their small businesses to thrive ahead of election day.

According to the vendors, election day has allowed them to market their products and make earnings to feed their families.

Theresia Mushimba, a kapana vendor at Omaalala village told The Namibian that despite a shortage of customers due to the holiday, election day has a great potential to thrive their businesses.

“Business is doing well, people are buying and the sales are quite good, we really cannot complain much. We made sure that we were the first ones in the queues so that we get an opportunity to get back to our businesses. We have families to support and we cannot let the day go by without making any sales,” said Mushimba.

Hileni Amutenya, a street vendor at Okatana said that the business sales are quite good as most people have been standing in the the queues for long forcing them to quench their thirst on what is being sold on the streets.

“I have not yet voted, I will vote later in the evening. I am first conducting my business before it gets late. Most of the shops are closed today and it’s mostly the vendors that are on the streets selling. It’s election day and business is doing great,” she said.

The Namibian Police deputy inspector general, Elias Mutota, recently urged the public not to consume alcohol before voting on Wednesday.

“We advise the public not to drink a day before voting and not to engage in purchasing alcohol from alcohol outlets. This will prevent a high accident rate,” he said.

According to Mutota, 4 677 officers have been deployed to polling stations in all 121 constituencies countrywide, to ensure safety and security during the electoral process.

“As we are all aware, 27 November is declared a public holiday, therefore, those owning alcohol outlets are reminded that selling of alcohol is prohibited, and are thus implored to play their part in ensuring peaceful election processes,” he said.