Street vendors who don’t comply face harsh penalty
Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality (EMLM) plans to take harsher steps against street hawkers who operate illegally in Cathcart Road by issuing them with a R10,000 penality and seizing their goods, with the help of law enforcement officers.
This is according to EMLM community services portfolio head Nosipho Papiyana, who was accompanied by the director, town planner and councillors when doing rounds in the area last week.
Papiyana said it was essential to keep Cathcart Road clean and tidy as it represented the face of Komani.
“Street hawkers are not permitted to conduct business by doing hair and selling beauty products [in the area].
“Hardware stores are prohibited from making displays on the paving areas, where they lay out paint and bricks.
“We started the removal last week and the town has been clean since, but there have been a few who do not want to comply near FNB, where they do hair extensions.
“We just came from removing them,” she said.
However, this was not the first time that hawkers had been removed from trading in the main street, only for them to return.
As such, Papiyana said hawkers who did not comply and returned to sell in the area would face tougher penalties.
“We made it clear to them that once we find them there again we will charge them a penalty of R10,000 and their items will be taken away.”
Papiyana said municipal officials would also deal with vendors selling without permits at Nonesi Mall.
“This was also a mission of establishing who has permits and those who do not. We are looking into the rezoning of the businesses,” Papiyana said.
While the municipality was aware of the high unemployment rate in Komani, Papiyana said street vendors who previously operated in Cathcart Road had been advised to apply for permits to operate at the Integrated Planning and Economic Development (Iped) offices.
“This is for them to be placed in appropriate zones to run their businesses.
“We know there are no jobs in South Africa, people make a living through selling.
“We do not want to see the youth turning to drugs because they are not permitted to run informal businesses in the streets of the town.”
She added that Iped had assisted some hair salon vendors with vouchers to help boost their businesses.
She encouraged hawkers to visit Iped’s offices to find out about the programmes available to assist them in their businesses.