Popular vendor harassed over permit

SHIRLEY Pretorius and her son Allan are a familiar sight in Morningside's Claribel and Lilian Ngoyi (Windermere) Road corner. The mother-and-son have been selling dog blankets at the corner for seven years and are well known to locals.

This week Shirley and Allan, who is confined to a wheelchair, were surrounded by eThekwini law-enforcement officers on motorbikes who demanded to see her permit which allowed her to trade from the corner.

According to Shirley, both she and her son have been victims of crime and it is because of this that she now leaves her permit safely tucked away at her home a few roads from where she trades. “I have a permit but don't carry it with me anymore because it was stolen three time before. The first time was when my handbag was snatched from Allan's wheelchair and twice while walking home my bag was snatched from my shoulder. The permit costs about R900 and is valid for six months. I cannot afford to replace it each time, it is too expensive and it also means I have to go down to Warwick Junction to get it,” she said.

After Allan was held up at knife-point while in his wheelchair with his friend earlier this year, Shirley realised crime was getting out of hand. “We are very vulnerable in the early morning and my life is worth more than my licence to trade and my son's life is worth more than 200 trading licence permits,” she said.

Shirley said she felt that she was being targeted despite being a legal trader. “I don't harass anybody. We sit well behind the pavement and I have never taken my blankets to the road in traffic to cause a problem. I do give directions to people who are lost a hundred times a day and pick up the litter around me,” she said.

“I explained the situation and gave them my name and address because I want to cooperate but I wish they would just leave me on my corner, I have a son who was born with Cerebal Palsy. We have been here for seven years this month and have not attracted any other illegal traders. Its just Allan and I with our dog blankets, there's nothing illegal going on here so I don't understand why I am a target,” she said.

Shirley said the incident with the three officers on their motorcycles had upset her son, who was very protective of her. “The last time they approached me to ask to see my permit they said they would fine me and throw me in jail and we would lose all our goods, so he was very concerned,” she said.

Dave Bretherton, a Morningside resident who witnessed the law enforcement officers at the corner said, “I was quite concerned because I could see Allan was very upset and agitated so I waited till they left. I was shocked to see that they are still giving her a hard time. She is the only person trading at this corner I think its unfair to target her and wonder what they were trying to prove,” he said.

Windermere Centre Management dub Shirley “the eyes and ears of the community.” “She is a blessing in disguise and definitely not a bother. Her stand is always neat and tidy and she chats to people who go there. She would often message us to let us know if vagrants or undesirables were hanging around or sleeping near the Centre. She has always been very helpful, watches out for the community and takes care of the environment around her so I don't understand why she would be targeted,” said a spokesperson for management.