Vandal destroys vendor goods
Vendors arrive to chaos after vandal destroys their goods during the night.
Street vendors on the corner of Nellmapius Drive and Boeing Street near the Rietvlei Dam are reeling after a vandal destroyed their goods during the night.
Tin buckets and baths, beanbags, wire baobab trees, metal animals and dog kennels were destroyed and strewn about, many landing on the busy adjacent roads. Eyewitnesses said it seemed like a hurricane had hit the small settlement.
The vendors, who have been selling their goods on the busy corner have, to their own admittance, quarrelled with other vendors who also want to sell at the busy corner. “We have had arguments with one man who also sells items like the ones we do. In the past he had damaged some of our items, so we suspect that it might be the same man. Unfortunately we can’t prove to the police it was him,” said Reketai Mukwayo who sells tin baths and pots he made, a skill he said he learnt from his father.
“We have to leave these things we sell here overnight. We don’t have our own transport, so we use taxis to get here. We have lost thousands of Rands. Money we can’t afford to lose. We have to pay school fees and put food on the table. We can’t do that now,” said Promise Mapfumo, who sells beanbags alongside his brother, Kuda, who sells tables and dressers he made himself.
Mapfumo added they were afraid to continue selling at the corner, as they now feared for their lives.
Mukwayo added that when he arrived at the scene of devastation early in the morning from his Diepsloot home he contacted the police, but by 12:30 was still waiting for them to arrive.
“We are asking that anyone who saw anything during the night to please contact us so that we can go to the police with real evidence. At the moment, we only suspect who it might be, but can’t prove anything,” said Mapfumo.
Anyone who knows who caused the destruction can contact Promise Mapfumo on 073-609-0344.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
