Informal traders bend rules

Joseph Chirume

Informal traders in Nelson Mandela Bay are trying to survive by quietly going doorto-door selling goods – in spite of the lockdown rules.

Municipal spokesperson Mtubanzi Mniki said only informal traders who had permits before the lockdown and sold uncooked food could be granted Covid-19 trading permits.

He said permits were not issued to informal traders selling goods house-to-house as this would directly contravene current lockdown regulations.

One trader buys blankets in Johannesburg for resale in Motherwell. He goes door-to-door and gives customers three months to pay.

He has been doing this for 15 years and usually would do brisk sales as winter approached, he said.

To get round the prohibition on door-todoor selling during lockdown, he now goes around with only a brochure.

“If I get an order I go back home to collect one blanket at a time.”

He said police were on the watch and there were roadblocks, but “as traders we have to feed our families without spreading the disease.

“I practise safe social distancing and

I always wear my mask when in public. I can’t sit at home while my family is starving.”

Another trader, who raises and sells chickens in Kirkwood, said he used to sell the chickens from a trailer at shopping malls. Now he advertises on WhatsApp or Facebook.

“Clients only come to my house to collect their chicken or I deliver one at a time to their houses,” he said.

A trader from Walmer used to buy brooms, mops and other items in Johannesburg for resale in Port Elizabeth’s townships. Now she and her friends buy dishwashing chemicals and hand sanitisers from a factory.

She packs the detergents at her house into two-litre plastic containers and delivers the bottles one at a time.

“I have a database of all my clients. I phone them for orders. I cannot carry more than one bottle. If the police find me with more than one bottle I will be in trouble.

“I practise good social distancing and I travel with two masks and a small bottle of sanitiser. But I couldn’t just sit and wait till the government lifts the ban.”

Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge said: “We enforce the regulations on lockdown. People should only go out of their houses when doing essential shopping and for medication.” – GroundUp