It might attract crime
We have a beautiful town of which 500km is a relic of times gone by.
EDITOR – I would like to pen a letter to your excellent newspaper using you as a medium if you don’t mind.
But more specifically I wouldn’t allow my name to be used, I am interested in sparking a peaceful debate.
This year sparked the 26th year of moving to Warner Beach from Alberton on the East Rand. To celebrate, my sister flew out to have a look at the town that had been the subject of many letters between us both.
Driving through town upon her arrival, her main comment was the proliferation of pawn shops along Kingsway and to what purpose does this rather unpleasant view have on our town.
My response was that they were serving a very useful trade, historically, and that they bartered with the local townships for the supply of goods that may not be readily available elsewhere (perhaps barter is the wrong word).
To be even more explicit, movement or travel from the surrounding townships of KwaMakhuta, Umgababa, Adam’s Mission, Illovo and so forth was limited and these shops, through their method of working, gave Black and Indian families access to goods they may struggle to find elsewhere.
Over the years, these pre-dominantly white owned businesses branched out into money lending and regrettably, over the last few years more and more white people are using the facilities.
If these businesses were doing something wrong then perhaps the receiver of revenue may have caught them. He hasn’t.
My sister, upon seeing a laptop pawned for R300 and then be advertised for R2 500, commented that there was an obvious cabal, and she wondered for how long this cabal’s ‘modus operandi’ may be allowed to operate.
She also mentioned that by the nature of a cash trade, it is going to attract crime as has happened in the past, but she is unaware of the network of crime fighting teams that are there.
Our final advice to our cabal of white owned pawn shops is to look to engage black partners and possibly a different type of store. We have a beautiful town of which 500km is a relic of times gone by.
ANONYMOUS
DID YOU KNOW?
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