Questions over fairness and accountability have emerged following a Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) operation targeting an informal food trader at the corner of Leeukop and Naivasha roads in Sunninghill on October 13.

During the operation, officers dismantled the trader’s shade structure and confiscated his stock. JMPD officials indicated that residents had called them about informal trading in the area.
The trader, Dumisa Phoko, said he relied on informal trading to support his five children and that the loss of his goods had dealt a setback to his livelihood.

Phoko said he had a trading permit but alleged he lost it after leaving someone else to look after his stall while he went home. He further claimed that during an earlier operation, officials took his permit and instructed him to collect it in Midrand.

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He said he understood that JMPD had a responsibility to enforce municipal by-laws, but maintained that he was trying to make a living.
Fourways Review was present during the operation and observed that Phoko was not issued a receipt for the confiscated items.

Democratic Alliance Ward 93 councillor candidate Tracy Kensey, who was also present during the operation, called for fairness and humanity in the enforcement of informal trading by-laws, arguing that the operation raised concerns about the consistent application of rules.

“Targeting a single operator while ignoring others on the same street corner creates an impression of bias and irregular processes,” she said.

She acknowledged that residents were entitled to raise complaints about informal trading and that JMPD had a responsibility to investigate them. However, she argued that enforcement should be applied consistently rather than focusing on individual traders while others in similar circumstances continued operating.

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Kensey said vendors should be approached constructively and given a reasonable opportunity to produce a valid trading permit or voluntarily pack up and leave before more severe enforcement measures were taken.

She maintained that poverty and unemployment did not exempt traders from complying with municipal by-laws, but said enforcement should be conducted with professionalism and consideration for those trying to earn a living.

In a previous response, JMPD spokesperson Superintendent Xolani Fihla explained that authorised officials could remove and impound property reasonably suspected of being used for informal trading in areas where such trading was prohibited or restricted.

However, he stated that officers were required to provide traders with receipts for any property removed and impounded.

“The receipt must itemise in detail the property to be removed and impounded,” Fihla said.

He explained that the documentation should include the address where the property would be kept, the period of impoundment, the conditions for its release and the applicable costs.

Fourways Review contacted Fihla for comment on the operation’s objectives, the complaints that prompted it, the by-laws being enforced and the circumstances surrounding the confiscation of Phoko’s belongings.

The department was requested to respond by 11:00 on October 14, and follow-ups were made, but no response had been received by the deadline.

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