Maputo, June 12, 2026 (Lusa) - The local authority will restrict street trading in the area surrounding Maputo Fortress, which involves hundreds of vendors, from Sunday, as part of its initiative to regenerate this “historic, strategic” area, and it is encouraging vendors to relocate voluntarily.
“The measure is part of efforts to redevelop, organise and preserve this historic, strategic area of the city, home to important heritage sites and public institutions,” reads a statement from the Maputo Municipal Council (CMM) regarding informal trading near Praça 25 de Junho, in the centre of the Mozambican capital, next to the local fishing port.
The measure will also relocate the street sale of fish, as well as food and alcoholic beverages.
That square, in the vicinity of the Fortress—built during the colonial period and converted into a museum—combines informal street trading with an inter-district transport terminal.
Car washers, the sale of meals from vehicles and all types of trade will also be affected, with the local authority saying that the measure aims to “improve urban organisation, preserve the city’s image and residents need more appropriate, safe, dignified conditions”.
The council “recognises the important social and economic role” played by informal traders and “understands the challenges associated with the process of reorganising” those spaces, the document said.
“In this regard, we appeal to the understanding, cooperation and civic spirit of all traders currently operating in that area, so that they may voluntarily take their stalls and other equipment to the markets previously designated by the CMM,” the statement said.
Last year, the Maputo local authority moved to relocate informal vendors from the roadsides and pavements of the capital’s main squares and markets, including with police support, in the face of resistance from the vendors, followed by negotiations that culminated first in the extension of the measure, and then in permission to sell only at times agreed with the association of informal vendors.
During one incident while the operation was underway at Praça dos Combatentes, also known as the Xiquelene market, the Mozambican police shot a person.
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