Informal traders accuse metro of disrespecting them
“Abusing a woman is not only about hitting her. It is also about abusing her emotionally, which is precisely what the metro is doing to us.”
Women informal traders will march on to the Tshwane metro on Friday march to protest the metro “disrespecting” them.
“We marched to the metro in August to demand they stop ill-treating us,” said Lilly Sambo, the leader of Informal Traders Women in Action.
“But to this day, they have not responded to our letter of demands, which means they continue disrespecting us.”
She said the metro’s behaviour was tantamount to “emotional abuse”.
“Abusing a woman is not only about hitting her. It is also about abusing her emotionally, which is precisely what the metro is doing to us.”
“During our previous march, our message was very clear: we would make the city ungovernable should the metro fail to meet our demands. We still maintain that position.”
She said they would, however, maintain discipline and refrain from disrupting the city on Friday.
“Our march, however, serves as the last warning shot. Hell will break loose should the city continue undermining us.”
Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the metro was not in a position to comment before the march took place.
Tshwane metro police spokesperson Isaac Mahamba said the informal traders’ application for the march had not been approved yet as some processes still had to be finalised.
The dispute between the informal women traders and the metro began when the metro declined to fund their annual Women’s Month celebration, after realising that it would cost the metro more than half a million rands.
According to Sambo, the celebration was supposed to take place at the end of August.
In response, the informal traders held the protest march in August to express their grievances.
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They ultimately hosted the Women’s Month celebration at the main entrance of the Tshwane House at the end of August – without the city’s support.
The celebration made it difficult for residents to access the municipal building.
At the time, the metro refuted the claim that informal traders were being abused.
Mashigo said, “the metro has never and would never abuse informal traders”.
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