Kinshasa: Pirate market vendors ordered to clear the public highway

Kinshasa, June 2^nd, 2025 (CPA) – Vendors in the pirate markets set up in Matete, a commune in the center of Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, were ordered to vacate the public highway by the municipal authorities during a raid on Monday, as part of the ‘balabala eza wenze te’ (the road is not the market) clean-up operation. ‘We are calling on anyone selling on the street to vacate the thoroughfare immediately and return to the market, because the street is not a market. The aim of this measure is to free up the streets and restore urban order for the development of our municipality’, declared Jules Mukumbi, Burgomaster of Matete. According to him, this call is part of a desire to return to the practices of yesteryear, when parents sold in the plots. To this end, he clearly indicated his determination to put an end to anarchic sales on the main thoroughfares. ‘The closure of markets in the past was motivated by construction projects which, once completed, no longer justified the persistent occupation of the street by traders. The municipality of Matete aspires to a better future, marked by progress and modernization. We want it to move forward, and that’s why I’m insisting on the need to clear the roads so that infrastructure can be built and traffic can flow more freely’, said the municipal authority. Vendors have therefore been invited to make arrangements to occupy the tables available at the market, failing which coercive measures will be taken. This initiative marks a turning point in the management of public space in Matete, with the ambition of transforming the municipality into a model of civic-mindedness and urban organization.