Desperate car washers still operating despite prohibition signs
The Dispatch spotted about three signs along the Esplanade but this has not deterred them from business as normal
The East London beachfront’s unregulated car washers were still going about their business on Friday morning even though Buffalo City Metro has put up new signage prohibiting them from doing so.
The Dispatch spotted about three signs along the Esplanade but this has not deterred the car washers.
Earlier in 2022, BCM councillors raised concerns over illegal and unregulated car washers, saying they were contributing to the city’s water challenges.
BCM is in the process of developing a bylaw to assist with the task of law enforcement.
A beachfront car washer, who only identified himself as Rasta, said they had been warned of legal consequences by the city’s law enforcement officers should they continue washing cars in the area.
“But what can we do my brother? This is our only way of surviving.
“I have been doing this job for many years and it is so unfortunate that we are now being threatened.
“How are we going to survive if we are chased away here?” Rasta asked.
He said they were aware of the signs prohibiting them from washing cars in the area.
“We are not undermining the city officials but we will continue washing cars if they are not around to monitor us,” Rasta said.
Thulethu Maqongo said he was prepared to be driven to a client’s house to wash their car if they preferred.
“I do not have a place of my own for this business. We have seen the city officials putting up the signs this week.
“They explained to us we might even get arrested if we are seen washing cars,” said Maqongo, who feared he would be without an income should he be chased away at the beachfront.
On a good day, Maqongo said he washed about eight cars, at R50 each.
“I am not a beggar. I only depend on the money I get from washing the cars here.
“I don’t mind if the client takes me to their homestead to wash their cars, as long as I am going to survive,” he said.
BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said the beachfront was a tourist attraction and the city could not afford to allow it to be turned into a “car wash” area.
He said the signage prohibiting the washing of cars was “covered under pollution of the coast which also prohibits littering. It is also under traffic bylaws”.
“The putting up of the signage will also enable us to act and fine motorists, as they are the ones funding this illegal trend.
“We have been apprehending and fining the car washers but we need to widen the net,” he said.
BCM’s ward 47 councillor, Funeka Wolose, said unregulated car washers at the beachfront had a negative impact on infrastructure in the area.
“The intention is to regulate and prevent current road damage,” Wolose said.
“The bylaw proposed would control but [it will] not necessarily prohibit or prevent car washers from operating [illegally].
“There is currently a process to develop a bylaw [in relation to unregulated car washers],” she said.