VEREENIGING.- Hawkers in the Vereeniging Central Business District (CBD)  staged a protest over trading permits yesterday, Friday.
The Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) has said that this follows a multidisciplinary law enforcement operation earlier in the day led by Emfuleni Local Municipality’s Super By-law Unit, with the support of Vereeniging SAPS.

The ELM said that the operation targeted several crime hot-spots and areas in the CBD where violations of municipal by-laws were rife. Hawkers found without operating permits were shut down and ordered to comply, and this led to a stand-off between law enforcement officers in the operation and angry vendors who stoned police vehicles and trashed the town. Protesting vendors also barricaded nearby Voortrekker, Beaconsfield, Leslie and other streets in the CBD with debris, temporary disrupting traffic. Several businesses were forced to close down their premises for the duration of the protest.

“SAPS’s Public Order Policing members were dispatched to manage the protest. By Friday afternoon, calm had been restored in the CBD, with the police still on high alert. ELM Local Economic Development (LED) Department will on Monday commence with a program to register all hawkers in the Vereeniging CBD. All vendors are advised to visit the LED offices located at the OK Building on President Kruger Street in the Vanderbijlpark CBD to apply for permits.”