Over the past few days, Alfred Duma Local Municipality has started marking off the street vendors’ stands along Illing Road. Shop owners are now accusing the municipality of carrying out the road markings on their private property without first consulting them. They say the municipal property is one metre from the edge of the road, but the markings they have made go beyond two metres, which is ‘way too much’.
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One concerned building owner says they are now having problems when the delivery trucks arrive, as there is not enough space to offload because the hawkers are too close to the shop entrance. Business owners say this will not only affect them, but also pedestrians because now the space is so narrow that they will be forced to walk in the road itself, which is dangerous.
“I wonder if I will now get a rebate on my rates, since they have taken my property without my permission, or should I start charging the municipality?” fumed the business owner.
IFP Cllr Abbas Warasally said the business people in this area called him to come and observe what the municipality has done. “I doubt that the Town Planning Unit approved this, because it is way beyond what is allowed. I am not surprised by what is happening though, since we are heading towards the elections and we know that the governing party will do anything they can as part of campaigning tactics to win votes.”
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