Cardboard pickers a problem
Business owners say their customers are afraid to come into the area.
DR GOONAM Street ( formerly Prince Edward Street) is known for its old school charm and has been home to various well-known businesses, but that image is being tarnished by cardboard pickers.
Businessmen in the area claim that vagrants who collect and sell cardboard are damaging their businesses and the city is doing nothing about it.
According to the businessmen, some of whose businesses have been operating since the early 1900s, said the cardboard pickers did as they pleased.
Apparently the pickers block the business parking lots with their cardboard that has been drenched in water to add extra weight.
They have also allegedly tampered with the parking meters to collect extra money.
Pravesh Soni, whose family has run a jewellery store in the area for the past 30 years, said their business was running at a loss because the pickers chased away their customers.
“Besides the parking problems, our customers are afraid to come into the area.
When they ask (the pickers) to move (the cardboard from the parking spaces) they become defensive.
“They swear at both busi- ness owners and customers. The same routine takes place every day. They collect the cardboard and wet it with water. There are three different waste collection companies that come to collect the waste, but it is always first come, first served,” he said. Soni said there were usually three to 20 men on the street at any given time. He said the litter after the pickers finished their “work” was “disgusting”.
He added that communication with the pickers was hard because they were threatening and swore a lot.
When business owners spoke to the drivers of the loading vehicles, they said it was their livelihood and if they did not collect the waste, someone else would.
“We have reported this matter on numerous occasions, but the city is not doing anything. Metro police repeatedly chase the pickers, but they are always back because there is no harsh punishment imposed.
“We understand they are trying to earn a living, but it should never be at our expense,” he said.
The chairman of the Durban Central Community Policing Forum and the owner of a supermarket that has been in his family for the past 100 years, Pretesh Naik, said it was elements like these that made customers not want to support them.
“These men have tried to hit me many times. They think it’s their right to do as they please.
“The city has told us the matter is being investigated, but clearly not as fast as we would like.
“There is photographic and video evidence to support our claims. It is time the vehicles using these pickers were impounded or the pickers are locked up because we cannot suffer because of their crimes,” Naik said.
Another businessman, Ritesh Boola, said he had filed for a 20 percent discount on his rates on Tuesday to make it known that business owners are not taking this problem lightly.
“Either our rates must come down or they must get the pickers out for good,” he said.
When City Watch spoke to a metro policeman about the meters not working, the officer said he knew about it and he only fined people who were double-parked.
Head of communication for the eThekwini Municipality Tozi Mthethwa said police apprehended the transgressors and confiscated their cardboards on numerous occasions.
“Metro Police conducts daily by-law enforcement operations but these pickers continue transgress the law.
“We will continue to monitor the area,” she said.
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