City makes it easier for informal traders to register

The Tshwane metro has taken steps to ensure the information on the requirements for trade reach the informal traders in the city.

To assist informal traders, the metro says it has held weekly compliance workshops.

Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the Tshwane department of economic development and spatial planning’s business compliance and regulations section carried out these weekly workshops to help informal traders understand and comply with the rule of law.

“The section conducts weekly by-law operations with metro police and the health department to ensure compliance to permit requirements and remove illegal trading. All compliance requirements are accessible from the City of Tshwane’s website,” Mashigo added.

He said that the city’s informal trade by-laws were designed to promote social and economic development as well as promote a safe and healthy environment.

“The City of Tshwane, therefore, recognises the need to adopt a developmental approach to enable access to jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities within the informal trading sector, to harmonise the relationship between the informal and formal trading sectors as well as to facilitate the migration of informal traders into the formal sector.

“The purpose of this informal trading by-law is to regulate informal trading activities within the city in a manner that enhances the constitutional and other statutory obligations of the city.”

Mashigo, however, warned that the metro police together with the section will continue to enforce the by-law in terms of lawful instructions, recovery of costs, removal and impound, vicarious liability of person trading, offences and penalties.

He said that the informal trading by-laws were aligned with the multi-party coalition’s strategic priorities of promoting employment and economic growth, enhancing city safety, security, and emergency services, maintaining a clean and protected natural environment, supporting the vulnerable and also creating a healthy and vibrant city.

On why he thinks there is reluctance by the informal traders to register as formal traders, Mashigo said it could be a lack of knowledge of policies and by-laws or that they preferred to trade illegally in their preferred areas.

Rekord spoke to two vendors in Centurion, Wilton Ndlovu and Ephraim Baloyi about trading informally.

Ndlovu said he has been trading without a licence for years adding that he didn’t see a need to register as a trader.

He told Rekord that to him what was important was to make sure that his clients were happy at all times. When asked if he knew the city was conducting weekly workshops to assist traders like him to register businesses formally, Ndlovu said that was the first time he heard of such a thing.

“I have never heard of this thing of workshops in my life, I am sure I am not the only one who doesn’t know about them. These people don’t care except when they come here and harass us,” he said.

Baloyi confirmed that he knew of the weekly workshops by the city. He told Rekord that he registered but was still waiting for his certificate.

“I was attending the workshops, and I even registered my business, and upon registering, we were told we will get our certificate soon after the construction of Centurion taxi rank. Upon completion of the taxi rank, I was surprised to see that there were no stalls for us to utilise as we were initially told we will be designated inside the taxi rank,” Baloyi explained.

He also revealed that the taxi bosses were making them pay rent to trade inside the rank, even though that was not the agreement between them and the municipality.

“We were taken aback when we were told we must pay rent for our space, even though the rent is not that much but it is not something we were expecting, and the city is not doing anything about it,” he concluded.

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