Street vendors in the CBD claim they are being harassed by Mbombela municipality’s newly appointed specialised security officers. The appointments were made in October in the stead of by-law officers.
A large group of vendors met on Friday morning on the corner Henshall and Brown streets, an area bustling with people selling wares and food on the sidewalk. One woman, who spoke to Nelspruit Post on condition of anonymity due to fears for her safety, says over the past two weeks they have been removed from the area of business in Brown Street, a stone’s throw from the police station.
“The municipality said we must move. They took us and our stock. They even assaulted one man.” She says the officers drove them to somewhere in Stongehenge, telling them to move their business there.
A young man from Nigeria told the newspaper that the removals were due to xenophobia. He said most of the vendors were immigrants like himself and didn’t have South African documents.
“They told everyone without the IDs that they must leave. They didn’t give us notice or time to apply for documents or say where we should go instead.”
He confirmed that some people’s stock had been confiscated.
Mr Cyril Chuene, member of the provincial executive of the EFF told the vendors who gathered to return to their place of work on Monday. “What they are doing is illegal. They are removing you in terms of bylaws that have not been promulgated. It is illegal to prevent you from selling here.”
He told Nelspruit Post that he had grown up on the income generated from street vending. “These guys are not trained to enforce by-laws. They don’t wear name tags. They don’t write up the stock they confiscate so that the owners can go and claim it back. And when vendors try to apply for a permit they are told to come back at a later stage. When must they apply?”
Mr Joseph Ngala, spokesman for the municipality, did not comment.
- Click here to read more on MLM’s bylaws.
