A GROUP of informal traders operating at the Merebank Market have accused metro police of violating their constitutional rights.
The traders alleged that metro police raided their stalls and damaged goods during a by-law enforcement operation last week.
However, the spokesperson for Durban Metro Police, Colonel Boysie Zungu, refuted the allegations, saying the operation was done within the parameters of the law.
Market traders treated unfairly
Among the traders is an 85-year-old pensioner, Janaki Pather, who claims the police raided her stall despite her pleas and showing them her trading permit.
Her daughter-in-law, Mary Pather, said, “The police asked me for my permit. I told them that it was at home. I phoned my husband to bring it because metro police were targeting certain stalls,” she said.
She said by the time her husband arrived with the permit, it was too late because the police had already confiscated the goods.
Another stall owner, Soraya Chetty, who has been selling at the market for 34 years, claims that metro police refused to give her time to fetch the permit from her car and instead loaded the fruit into a bin bag.
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Merebank Ward Committee member Neal Pather said he received calls from frustrated residents who asked for intervention as the police were confiscating their goods.
Pather said that when he arrived at the market, metro police were in the process of issuing a fine to an elderly woman who had been running a cosmetic stall for more than 30 years.
“While they were doing this, she asked to retrieve her permit. However, the police continued to issue the fine even though she had shown them the permit. I asked them why they were confiscating her goods since she had already produced a permit. I told the police officer that I was going to take legal action against them. Upon hearing this, metro police scratched off the original fine and wrote a new one in her daughter-in-law’s name.
“We are trying to engage with metro police to get a clearer picture of their recent operation. We want all fines issued to the traders to be cancelled because the process of confiscating goods was unfair.”
Durban metro police deny any wrongdoing
Zungu said the police were doing hawker enforcement checks in Clairwood and surrounding areas.
“We started in South Coast Road and ended at the Merebank Market. Traders who had their permits in their possession produced it. Other traders had no trading permits while some were trading with other permits that did not belong to them. They showed the police these permits after the goods had been impounded.”
He said the traders who were claiming that they left their permits in their cars were given time to fetch them.
“The police impounded where there was no permit. We did not impound where we found a permit holder or an assistant that reflected on the permit card,” said Zungu.
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