Recognise small businesses: Vaal Business Forum

SEBOKENG.- The Vaal Business Forum marched to the Thabong Shopping Centre last Friday over the alleged unfair treatment that local businesses get from the mall management .
The march started at the Sebokeng Post Office, into Moshoeshoe Road and went to the Thabong Shopping Centre where the Vaal Business Forum leaders handed a memorandum of grievances to the centre manager. The Vaal Business Forum demands that the centre owners recognize the small businesses operating in and near the centre. The organisation also demanded that the owners treat the workers with respect.
Speaking to Sedibeng Ster, Vaal Business Forum Chairperson, Tshepo Maloka said the centre doesn’t benefit the people of Sedibeng particularly of Sebokeng. He said this is because the owners are from outside Sedibeng and that is why they don’t contribute to the Vaal.
“As the Vaal Business Forum we demand that the centre owners recognize small businesses and treat the workers fairly. This is a big concern for us as the Vaal Business Forum. To make it worse, Thabong Shopping Centre owners failed to help us when one of the community members was unable to bury one of their family members who was at the mortuary for almost two weeks when we asked for their help recently. This is the very same community that supports their businesses but they fail to help when it is in need,” he told Sedibeng Ster.
Maloka said this is a general problem with all the other malls in Sedibeng in that they don’t recognise the small businesses and they treat workers like dirt. Maloka said one of their demands as the Vaal Business Forum is the immediate resignation of the Thabong Shopping Centre Manager. Attempts to get comment from the centre management were unsuccessful at the time of going to print.