Man arrested for allegedly selling permits
“The suspect met with a team member and was immediately placed under arrest after he produced a permit for a R300 payment,” she said.
Gauteng Hawks on Tuesday arrested a 22-year-old man suspected of selling fraudulent permits to informal business owners.
Hawks spokesperson Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu said: “It is alleged that the suspect, from Olivenhoutbosch, Centurion, was selling permits to business owners who are not part of the essential services.”
Mulamu said this led to the Hawks’ serious corruption investigation team being alerted.
“The team made contact with the suspect under the pretext of wanting to buy permits.
“The suspect met with a team member and was immediately placed under arrest after he produced a permit for a R300 payment,” she said.
Mulamu said the Hawks team went to the man’s house where they seized a laptop and other documents.
The man was expected to appear at the Pretoria magistrate’s court today.
READ MORE: Metro extends informal trader permission application deadline
This came after the Tshwane metro extended the deadline for informal traders by a few days to apply for permission to trade during the lockdown.
Tshwane metro spokesperson Selby Bokaba said this was due to the unexpectedly high number of informal traders who applied for permission to trade and the Easter holidays, which disturbed the processing of applications.
“We decided to extend the application period for a further three days to process the outstanding and expedite new applications,” Bokaba said.
He said the metro had thus far issued 5 500 permits.
The initial deadline was 9 April.
However, “we have decided to reopen the application period from 15 April to 17 April and relocate the entire process from the regions to a centralised point in the CBD”, he said.
Bokaba said the new venue was the Ou Nederlandsche Bank Building at Bitts Centre on the corner of Parliament and WF Nkomo streets on Church Square from 09:00 to 15:00.
READ MORE: Bogus trader permits to be investigated
“The regulations for the informal traders to apply for special permission to trade are in line with the amended regulations announced by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma,” he explained.
The revised regulations called on grocery stores and wholesale produce markets, including spaza shops and informal food traders, to obtain written permission from the municipality to operate. Informal street traders were not included.
“The regulations are aimed at preventing and curbing the spread of the coronavirus during the lockdown,” Bokaba said.
The informal traders granted permission were expected to comply with national regulations and only sell essential products while observing physical distancing of two metres from customers.
“Submission of the application form does not automatically guarantee granting permission. It, however, affords the municipality the opportunity to critically assess the applications and ensure they meet criteria for basic foodstuffs as set by national government,” Bokaba said.
He added that the informal traders were reminded to practice proper hygiene such as washing their hands with soap for at least 20 seconds and using sanitisers with an alcohol content of 60% or more.
This also follows an investigation being launched after Tshwane council equipment was used to “issue” bogus trader permits.
Tshwane head administrator Mpho Nawa said the matter would be investigated.
“This matter was brought to our attention on Wednesday, last week,” Nawa said.
“Under no circumstances should individuals profit at the expense of residents who seek to make an honest living through trade.”
READ MORE: Lockdown effects on small farmers
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