No more illegal trading!

Msukaligwa Local Municipality has started acting against illegal trading in Ermelo.

In their first operation to “clean up” Ermelo, they focused on mobile business containers that have been popping up everywhere.

On 24 January, the owners of these containers received notification from the office of the MMC Community Service, Ms Julia Bal, to inform them of their fate.

In the letter they were informed that they were in breach of the Msukaligwa Spatial Planning and Land Use Management by-law, Msukaligwa’s business licencing policy, environmental laws and public health laws.

They were then given till noon the next day to suspend all trading and remove the containers in question.

If they did not comply, the containers would be removed by a local towing company that would store them until the owners retrieved them at a cost of R2 500 each to cover towing costs.

Later that day an extension was granted to all container owners to comply by 30 January at noon.
Firstly, these traders are breaking the law by erecting their containers on residential land.

To trade on such land various steps should be taken in order to re-zone the property as a property with business rights. Then, among others, the owner of the business needs to apply for a trading licence which will not be issued if all health and safety regulations are not met.
Information on the process can be viewed at the office of the Town Planner.

“These traders are not paying any taxes to the municipality and I doubt that the government gets their share,” said an irate business owner in town, who explained that he recently had to register his property to be able to conduct his business from home.

According to him, his rates and taxes amounted to R1 046 the one month, only to escalate to R2 464 the next month after registering as a business.

The Highvelder spoke to Mr Matie Jalle, the owner of one such “tuck shop” to find out why he was trading illegally and his feelings on the removal of his “shop”.

Mr Jalle, an Ethiopian national, said he had no idea that he needed a licence of any sort to run “such a small business”.

According to him, he has had businesses in the CBD for over 12 years and should not be taxed for this small one. He repeatedly said he tried to get a license, but that no one would assist him at either the licencing or planning office.

It later became clear that he does not own the property on which his container stands and that he pays the property owner R1 000 rent (including electricity) per month.

Mr Jalle claims that he  married here in South Africa and that money generated from his container business supports six people in SA and 12 people back home in Ethiophia.

He said there was no work in his home country and that he obtained the container for R30 000.
When Ms Bal arrived at Mr Jalle’s container on Tuesday morning, business was being conducted as usual.

After explaining why she was there and issuing various warnings to remove the fridge and pack up the merchandise so that the container could be removed, he asked for grace till 12:00 by which time he promised to have the container removed.

When Ms Bal arrived back at 12:00 it was still business as usual with nothing packed away.

According to Ms Bal, the worker just laughed it off, believing that nothing would be done. She told the Highvelder that the container would definitely be removed by 13:00.

This indeed happened.

Another container was also left till 13:00 when the owner was due to arrive and empty it. Its fate was not known by the time of going to press.

But the third container on the list was the first to be loaded.

After a great deal of objecting and pleading by various bystanders, the order was given to unpack the container so that it could be towed away.

A piece of twin flex cable, apparently supplying power from a nearby flat, was chopped off with a panga in order to remove the double-door cold drink fridge, three fans and a deep freezer from the container.

The container was then loaded and taken to the towing yard.
Ms Bal confirmed that this project was the first of many and hoped to have the container issue is done and dusted by mid-February.

She also said that enterprises operating from residential addresses and not adhering to the Mpumalanga Business Act, illegal electricity connections and the issue with hawkers in town would be dealt with shortly.

Ms Bal warned that the municipality was serious about getting Ermelo and surroundings in order and thanked the public for their support and also urged them to report illegal activities to the relevant departments.