Informal iLembe traders receive crucial grants to offset July unrest impact

After a long wait, 85 informal North Coast traders finally received business relief grants of R8 000 each on Tuesday.

The identified traders had been affected by last July’s unrest and the grants, handed over at the iLembe district municipality’s auditorium, will assist them to get back on their feet.

An impact survey conducted by Enterprise iLembe found that 1 200 jobs had been lost and R322-million in infrastructure damages incurred across the region.

Of the 4 municipal regions, KwaDukuza and Mandeni were the worst hit.

iLembe district municipality sought aid through government’s relief efforts, with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa heeding the call for support.

Speaking at the handover on Tuesday, IDC’s senior local economic development manager Naomi Koeberg said: “Last year in July the unfortunate happened. Businesses did not invite the chaos,” adding that informal traders needed this relief to rebuild as for many their only source of income had been affected.

Koeberg highlighted the plight of informal traders and said more needed to be done to empower them.

iLembe deputy-mayor James van Wye echoed her sentiments, saying informal traders, as breadwinners, had their efforts to put food on the tables of their families and their children through school severely hampered by the July unrest.

He called on local municipalities to promote local economic development.

Six of the 91 identified traders did not receive their relief funds owing to Fica documentation which first needed to be finalised.

Transfers were done electronically.

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