Aggressive beggar or trader at Midrand intersection
MIDRAND - A woman, who did not want to be named, said she would like to alert the public to an incident which allegedly took place at the intersection of Lever and Olifantsfontein roads.
She explained that a few weeks ago she heard that there was a man at the intersection who shouted at a motorist who did not give him the money he asked for. She said, “Recently, while at the same spot, a man who looked strange, with wide eyes and a loud voice, just appeared near my window and said he wants R2. When I said I do not have any money he started shouting at me and called me names.”
She said she panicked and started to move forward a bit to try and look for room to escape him, but he noticed and shouted at her more and tried to open her car door; luckily the robot changed and she sped off.
She stressed that she is not sure if he is also a trader at the intersection as she has never seen the man before. “I know most of the people who stand at that intersection selling fruit and other things. I use that road daily and none of them have ever made me feel so threatened. Please be careful when you drive there and watch out for this man, he may attack someone. He seemed so angry, it was shocking.”
Metro police Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said street trading is allowed, but informal traders are not allowed to sell from intersections. “Motorists who find themselves aggressively confronted by anyone at an intersection, a trader or a beggar, should report the matter at a local police station. If found, the person can be arrested as intimidation is a criminal offence, and if they attack you they can be arrested for malicious damage to property or assault.”
Minnaar said when, for example, illegal window washers are arrested, they are fined R100. It does not stop them from returning to the next spot the following day.
According to the City of Johannesburg bylaws, ‘… no person may on any public road loiter or solicit or inconvenience or harass any other person for the purpose of begging’.
