LUSAKA street vendors have vowed to punish the Patriotic Front –PF party in 2021 and award the United Party for National Development –UPND instead.

According to street vendors, they have decided to throw their weight behind the opposition UPND because the PF have sent Police officers to beat them up and confiscate their merchandise.

The Lusaka City Council and Zambia Police are everyday arresting vendors in Lusaka as instructed by Bowman Lusambo, the Lusaka Province as well as Miles Sampa the Mayor of the city.

Last week, some overzealous police officers dispersed four tear gas canisters at the vendors who have regrouped at the traffic lights of Lumumba and Loss Angles Junction at Lusaka’s largest trading place, city market.

“We are being treated like dogs. How do they arrest you for selling apples which you ordered with an investment of K150 then the arrest you and make you pay K350 at the police station? Themselves are comfortable because they have salaries and they have allowances. This hard economy does not bother them but we will give them a promise, they can’t be troubling our mothers like that. We will give UPND a protest vote in 2021 so that when PF goes out of power, they can see how it is not to be in government,” a vendor complained to this reporter.

The collective agreement among vendors in Lusaka Central District business have vowed to shift camp to support UPND, while publicly declare their support to PF for fear that if they show it they would be beaten and chased from town by some PF cadres.