Things have gone from bad to worse in the Pretoria CBD under the current administration, local businesses complain.
“The mayor only gives a damn about the east and such areas,” said Queen’s Lifestyle store chief operations officer Shaakira Yousuf.
“They say this is a city of excellence, but there’s none of that.”
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Yousuf and his family had been in business in the CBD for the past 35 years. They have been at their current address on the corner of Thabo Sehume and Helen Joseph streets for 20 years.
“Robberies and muggings have increased and parking is a disaster,” she told Rekord.
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“Businesses’ loading vehicles must often block the streets because cars are illegally parked in designated loading zones.”
“People – and not just the homeless – defecate and urinate on our doors. It smells and we have to constantly clean it up.”
Illegal vendors are also a problem, as they would dump hair and cooking oils right on the street next to stores.
“Recently a baby was dumped in a bin near our store and was discovered by rubbish collectors,” she said.
“They only noticed something was wrong when the plastic rubbish bag was heavier than normal.”
“If CCTV cameras in the area were working, someone could have seen this happen.”
Another problem was manhole covers being stolen, creating potential hazards for pedestrians and customers.
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Crime was also a big problem for businesses, she said.
“Over the past few months, our business has been targeted several times by criminals.”
“Somehow they bypassed our security and managed to steal a substantial amount of goods.”
Two weeks ago, thieves forced open a glass display and helped themselves to expensive Diesel watches, which they stuffed into their pants.
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She said businesses in the CBD were suffering because there was no visible policing.
Customers were also put off by opportunistic loiterers such as car guards making motorists pay for parking in places they shouldn’t.
“The city centre is simply too busy and cluttered.”
Anas Dockrat, of Capital Fashions in the CBD, said he faced similar problems.
“Recently a customer of mine was robbed as she walked out of my store.”
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Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the city’s regional maintenance team regularly attended to blocked catch pits.
“However, we have a littering problem in the CBD. Objects such as rotten vegetables or fruits and cooking oil end up blocking the catch pits. The biggest culprits are informal traders operating in the area.”
Mashigo said the metro was busy replacing missing and stolen manhole covers.
He said the metro would appreciate residents supplying them with the exact locations of missing manhole covers and blocked catch pits in their areas.
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