MBOMBELA – Sex workers doing business in one of the busiest streets might find themselves with no venue as a stern warning has been issued by the MEC for community safety and security, Mr Vusi Shongwe to clamp down on their trade and other illegal activities taking place there.
Anderson Street has been labelled in some quarters as the “headquarters of prostitution,” and soon the prostitutes will have to seek new avenues if Shongwe’s stern warning is anything to go by.
The MEC sent also warned the owners of the buildings who are not willing to cooperate with his department and Mbombela Local Municipality in addressing the crisis of illegal activities.
The street is one of the busiest in the CBD and is notorious for illegal activities that happen in broad daylight such as prostitution and selling or smuggling of drugs.
In an exclusive interview with Mpumalanga News, he vowed to win the battle against the illegal activities in that street.
“We want to win this battle of addressing dilapidated buildings that contributes to increase incidents of criminal activities. There are buildings at Anderson Street that need serious attention as criminals are taking advantage of these locations. Since we have started to engage in meetings with the municipality in 2013, we are facing a challenge that some of the owners of the buildings are not coming forward and I suspect that some of the occupants there are illegal, they didn’t get permission from the owners.”
Shongwe said he won’t tolerate what he called hide-and-seek games by some of the owners who never participate in meetings to resolve problems in that street.
“We are not going to laugh about it, we are going to deal with them very harshly by locking with big padlocks until they decide to come forward,” concluded Shongwe.
Anderson Street is one of the streets that need urgent attention as it poses serious challenges to law and order due to some of the activities taking place there.
Previously Shongwe stated that the street would soon tarnish the image of the capital if drastic action was not taken.
