Hawkers plead for help

MOKOPANE – It is early Monday morning and Bosveld is visiting the chairperson of the hawkers association in Mokopane, John Baloyi (61), at the hawkers shelter in Nelson Mandela Drive.

Baloyi has been the chairperson since 2000 and he does not get paid for this position. “I do it to help my fellow hawkers,” Baloyi said.

Baloyi greets me at my car and with my first step into the shelter I am confronted by young men using Nyaope. Nyaope is a highly addictive, dangerous and destructive street drug, unique to South Africa.

“You see I have to deal with this regularly. Every time I chase them away they just come back,” he said disheartedly.

When you look around the shelter rubbish is lying everywhere and Baloyi explained that he used to hire people to come and clean the shelter, but at night the, “dagga and Nyaope boys just come and mess it up again.”

Bosveld is warmly greeted by the ladies owning their own catering and take-away shops in the shelter. Miriam Masimini, owner of Masimini Catering, said: “I have been working here for the last 16 years, but these days I feel unsafe and I really hope someone can help us.”

Baloyi further said there are more than a 1 000 hawkers in Mokopane. “We get up at the crack of dawn and we only go home at around 18:00. For most of us this is our main source of income. We feel powerless when we arrive at the shelter in the morning to find that our units have been broken into and our products are stolen as we do not have enough money to buy these products again.”

The circumstances at the shelter have grown so severe that there have been cases where the hawkers were overpowered and robbed of their income. Baloyi has taken it upon himself to try and rid the shelter of these criminals that it even once led to him getting hurt. “I am afraid! What if they stick me with their needles or if they overpower me. That is why I bought myself a panga to defend myself, but I do not want to take the law into my own hands.

“These tsotsis (criminals) do not obey the law and at night they jump over the gate and sleep inside the shelter.”

He concluded the conversation by saying: “I wish the police could assist us in this situation as we do not feel safe.”

The Mokopane Business Chamber informed Bosveld on Monday that they are planning to visit the shelter on their Tour around Town on Wednesday.

DA councillor of Ward 32, Yolandé Coetzee, also recently visited the shelter and said: “I am also looking into solving this problem as it is a real health and safety hazard.” At a recent Community Policing Forum meeting the local police also said they will increase their patrols in the area.