Hawkers take a stand

The leadership of the Springs Hawkers Association (SHA), together with hawkers operating from various stands in the Springs CBD, were closed for business for the most part of Monday.

This is due to their march to the Springs Customer Care Centre (CCC), to hand over a memorandum as well as a petition signed by hawkers, to the CCC manager Ace Phiri.

Chairperson of SHA, Vincent Madihlaba says it is the issues raised by a CCC employee, during a meeting on March 19, which prompted them to march.

“We were told there are too many hawkers in Springs and they want to reduce the number from over 500 to a mere 200 people,” Vincent says.

Other issues discussed during that meeting, which did not rest well with the hawkers, include rules which forbid hawkers from leaving someone to look after their businesses, while they go to buy stock or when they are sick.

Vincent also said, “The association is against re-applying for permits and they should only re-register.”

Vincent said he doesn’t understand ‘why our members are the ones targeted and permits confiscated, while those selling pirated goods are left in peace in the CBD’.

Elizabeth Bloom, who is a hawker, said, “We are not protected from these new shop owners, who also call authorities to remove us.”

While Busi Mahlalela says, “It sometimes takes a week to get stock from the farms and that makes it difficult to obtain a 100% presence on your stand.”

Elizabeth Maelana has been selling vetkoek, fish and fruit since 1999.

She said, “I don’t see why they would want to decrease the number of hawkers, because we, as hawkers, are not complaining about the number of people selling in the street.”

No response was provided by the metro at the time of going to print.