VIDEO: Waltloo businesses waning
The company is losing tenants, because the area was deteriorating and nobody wanted to be there any longer.
Businesses operating in the Waltloo area in the east of Pretoria are waning because of persistent power outages.
Business owners said they were being forced to slash jobs as revenue streams were drying up due to a loss of customers.
Spokesperson for the Waltloo Industrialists’ Association Marcus Venter said nothing had changed after nearly two years of fruitless discussions.
Requests and pleas for better service delivery, infrastructure maintenance and electricity grid upgrades had yielded nothing.
“Due to the deterioration of the Waltloo industrial area in the past two years, rental tenants are not renewing leases that have resulted in a 30 percent vacancy rate in the area,” said Venter.
He said factory owners seeking to relocate were unable to find a market for their factories and had effectively become hostages of a mismanaged municipal administration.
Other complaints included environmental clean-up problems, insufficient policing and a lack of social support services to focus on the prevalence of drug use in the area.
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Sauls Atteridge Business Solutions owner Wilson Mokoena said he employed over 300 people.
The power cuts and inadequate service delivery were hampering his productivity.
“I am production-driven and rely on electricity so the constant disruptions disrupt my business dearly,” he complained.
“I cannot send products on time to my customers and this results in them changing suppliers.”
Gavin Briggs from Mutual Security said his business had been in Waltloo for over 30 years which also included an office park development.
Briggs said his company was losing tenants, because the area was deteriorating and nobody wanted to be there any longer.
He said he invested in a restaurant two years ago after being told the area would be developed into a major industrial and commercial hub.
“We have found that consumers do not want to be in the area due to the poor safety and traffic congestion which makes them an easy target for smash and grabs.”
Briggs said his staff had since been slashed by half.
The office park had lost three tenants who did not want to renew their leases due to the problems plaguing the area.
Venter said there had been ongoing discussions with the metro.
He said a meeting was also on the cards with the city chief of staff Marita Aucamp and mayor Solly Msimanga.
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