Business owners at loggerheads over scrap metal

In a dramatic turn of events, a Sebenza scrap metal dealership owner has accused a faction of the business community of harassment.

Mr Eddie Nana alleges that a group of business owners have accused him of contributing to an alleged rise in crime in the area.

According to him, conflict arose when some owners of neighbouring businesses accused him of selling goods stolen from their properties.

“Police officers have been here on numerous occasions and threatened to close down my business even though I have never done anything wrong and they have never found any stolen items at my business,” said Mr Nana.

Mr Nana’s comments were in response to allegations levelled against him by the Sebenza Business Forum.

In an statement, the forum accused him of a series of illegal activities.

“The scrap dealer has been operational for the past 18 months and since they have been in business, there has been a tremendous increase in crime in the area, to such an extent that businesses have even given up on reporting the crimes as nothing seems to get done about it when they do. We have, ourselves, frequently found stolen goods from our factory at the scrap dealer’s property,” reads the statement.

Further allegations by the forum were that Mr Nana does not require any form of identification from individuals selling scrap metal and that his business operated outside legally stipulated business hours.

“The scrap dealer also has numerous people living in the factory and has a number of workers that have now started turning Sebenza into an informal settlement; the vagrants have confirmed with us whom they work for on a regular basis,” the forum stated.

Mr Nana said no one lives on his business property.

“I know there are people who live in the vacant land that is close to the scrap dealer but that is not my land and I have nothing to do with that. Another point I want to make is that my business does not depend on the scrap that individual people bring here because only 10 percent of the scrap comes from walk-ins. The rest is scrap metal that comes from my suppliers and I go and collect it with my trucks. If their employees are stealing metal from their businesses, they need to tighten their security and not accuse me,” he said.

He said his business operates within business hours and his doors are always open for the police to come and inspect the premises if they suspect something illegal is happening. He said the SAPS has visited his business a few times and they have never found anything illegal.

Mr Nana also said he reached out to ward councillor, Clr Heather Hart, early in December 2015 for assistance.

“I was tired of being harassed and tried to reach out to her as a community leader for help but she became dismissive as soon as I explained to her who I was and hung up the phone,” he said.

In response to Mr Nana’s statement, Clr Hart denied speaking to Mr Nana.

“The only scrap metal dealer I had spoken to said his dealership is at Imvubu and denied being the scrap metal dealer in question. He did indeed say that he was being harassed by the police and I denied sending the police to harass him but did indeed say that the police are obliged to investigate scrap metal dealers if they are suspected of dealing in stolen metal and I certainly would not intervene as the law must take its course. I said if he did not deal in stolen metal then he would not be harassed and be open to inspections the same as all other scrap metal dealers.

“I explained to him the problems that were being reported with the scrap metal dealer on the corner and offered to connect him with the Sebenza Business Forum which he appeared to have welcomed. I then duly provided his contact number to the relevant party who tried calling twice but the calls were neither answered nor returned,” she said.

The Sebenza SAPS communications officer, Sergeant Sharon Mahamba-Tsotsotso, said the station has a Designated Secondhand Goods Office which patrols the Sebenza area frequently. The officers visit the scrap dealers and do inspections but they have never found any stolen goods at the scrap dealer in Grader Road.

“The officers visit all the scrap dealers in the area and inspect that the goods they buy have the details of the people who sold them. None of the scrap dealers in the area sell goods without the proper papers. If a scrap dealer is found to be taking goods without proper documentation, the dealer will be closed down,”said Sgt Tsotsotso.

She said if the business owners, or anyone, suspects that their goods are being sold at any scrap dealer, they must contact the police.

“If they suspect the dealer is selling stolen goods, they can come to the station and we will be more than happy to accompany them to the dealer to search for their goods. She also disputed the claims that the dealer is operating outside the working hours. Our officers do patrols regularly but they have never seen that scrap dealer open 24-hours,” said Sgt Tsotsotso.

The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department’s (EMPD) Lieutenant Colonel Danie Van Eeden, the precinct commander for the Edleen Northern Region, said he received the complaint about the scrap dealer in Grader Road from General Goodman Mzolo and they had a meetings on-site.

“We looked at various issues and also took a copy of his business registration for investigation. We started to look into his conduct and up to now no person, institution, business or law enforcement agency opened any cases or confiscated any materials as far as I have confirmed with the Sebenza SAPS.

“We as a law enforcement agency can also not inform any business on how they must structure their business hours. I, in my capacity as a precinct commander and the fact that I notice that everybody needs this business to close, went to the extreme and approached various departments inside the EMM, the SAPS Head Office and even asked a legal person how to go about closing this business,” said Lt Col Van Eeden.

He said the answers he received were that the trading hours for this industry cannot be enforced by the EMPD or SAPS.

He also said that the business must be monitored and if found in possession of illegal goods, cases must be opened at the SAPS.

“Only after various offences have been made by the business owner and its reported, investigated and goods confiscated, the investigating officer of the SAPS can approach the court and try to force the business to close by showing all the previous offences. Currently, I am booking one vehicle permanently in the Grader Road area and they will concentrate on the area where this business is operating from,” said Lt Col Van Eeden.