This according to the SA National Traders’ Retail Alliance’s spokesperson Edmund Elias, who was responding to the mayoral committee’s move to prohibit street trading in the city centre despite a Constitutional Court ruling.
According to Elias, although the move was passed during a vote, several ward councillors had contested the motion.
He said the motion advocated moving street traders from the inner city to less populous areas in a bid to more effectively control the inner city.
However, he claimed that if public spaces were better managed – which the city council was failing to do – street traders would not be a nuisance.
Although Elias claimed that there was no inclusive engagement prior to the motion being passed, he said the alliance welcomed the city council’s later decision to engage with all stakeholders.
He added that the alliance was prepared to negotiate with the council on condition that both parties were open to compromise.
According to Elias, the alliance had proposed a pilot project to the entity in order to better control the inner city without having to remove the street traders.
The alliance proposed that seven security guards and three cleaners be deployed on three streets in the inner city from which about 250 street traders operated, he said.
He added that their services would be paid for by traders on a weekly basis and the project, in collaboration with Joburg Central Partnership, aimed to keep the city clean and crime-free.
However, he said the council rejected the proposal despite the proven success of such efforts in other areas.
Last year, the city council forcibly removed more than 6 000 traders from streets of the inner city as part of its Operation Clean Sweep, which sought to register all street traders and reallocate them trading areas.
However, in December the Constitutional Court ruled that the traders could return to their pavement spots and continue trading.
The council was ordered not to harass the informal traders operating once they returned to their stalls and to pay the costs of the application.
