Mushroom vendors ripped off by motorists
THE first mushrooms of spring have not brought much magic to vendors on the North Coast roadsides.
Motorists in smart cars and, in one case, a municipal police vehicle, have snatched handfuls of makowes, as these indigenous giant mushrooms are commonly known, and sped away without paying.
“The unemployed vendors, who stand at various points along the R102 and the N2 between Umdloti Beach and the Stanger (KwaDukuza) toll plaza, were approached by motorists who asked to view the mushrooms before paying,” said Prem Balram of the Verulambased security company Reaction Unit SA.
The vehicles then drove away without paying. Balram said the vendors would get up at 2am every day to search the sugar cane fields for the mushrooms.
“By about 7am they usually will have found two packets, which they sell for R250 a kilogram,” he said.
“Part of the money is used to replace batteries for torches used in the search for the mushrooms.”
In one case, the driver of a SUV had his wife and children in his vehicle when he rolled up his window and drove away, taking the mushrooms. Another makowe thief drove a BMW, Balram said.
Makowes are known to grow in the cane fields and become more abundant toward the end of the year. They are considered to be a delicacy.