Over 50 Limpopo hawkers left deserted after road upgrade
Julia Madavha, the leader of the Elim Market, said vacating the area has affected all of them as many recently purchased stock, including crates of tomatoes, bananas and avocados.
LIMPOPO – The ongoing rehabilitation of the D4 in Elim has dealt more than 50 hawkers who rely on their stall to make living, a severe blow.
Faced with just two days’ notice to vacate the area, these hawkers find themselves without a place to sell and run their business from. On October 9, hawkers who had been selling along the road for more than two decades were instructed to remove their stalls. The multimillion rand road project, which connects N1 to Elim and runs through Malamulele to Vuwani, started on July 23.
While they express their understanding of the necessity for the road rehabilitation process, they blame the Makhado Municipality for not providing them with timely notices.
Sarah Mukwevho (80) told CV that she doesn’t know how she will continue to support her three orphaned grandchildren with the insufficient Sassa grant money alone. “I rely on my sales to make ends meet, and now I am stuck with unsold stock. What’s worse is that they haven’t offered us any temporary locations to sell from, and we are enduring great hardships,” she said.
Julia Madavha, the leader of the Elim Market, said vacating the area has affected all of them, as many of them recently purchased stock, including crates of tomatoes, bananas and avocados. Now we are uncertain where to go to in order to make a living to support our families, as the cost of living is also high, and we hope for some compensation,” she said.
John Ntabeni, the senior headman of the Njakanjaka traditional council, said the contractor had assured them the work would be completed within three weeks.
“We have tried to encourage some of them to temporarily relocate to the road leading to Louis Trichardt, but they refused, as they say there are no customers to support them,” he said.
