Hawkers vs EMPD
Foreign traders in Springs central business district (CBD) feel they are being victimised.
A group of about 15 men and women from various countries in Africa, met with the Addie to voice their grievances, after they felt no-one wanted to listen to them.
On the other hand, the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) deny harassing the hawkers, saying they are enforcing the metro’s by-laws.
One of the hawkers, Khadim Kebe, says their goods are taken at least once a week and they have to pay a fine each time to get them back.
When they get their goods back, it is only half or sometimes none at all.
They say that each time it is the EMPD officers who take their goods.
When asked by the Addie whether they have legal documents, all of them produced the necessary legal documents to trade and live in South Africa.
Some had been here for more than 10 years and others have South African wives and children who they have to provide for.
All had permanent residential addresses where they are living, mostly in the Springs CBD.
The hawkers, who sell goods like clothing, bags, wallets and cellphone covers, and do repairs on cellphones say some of them have been trading for 10 years in the area between Standard Bank in Fifth Avenue and OK Bazaars.
They choose not to trade in drugs and illegal goods, but feel they are victimised and treated like animals and criminals for earning an honest living.
They feel the EMPD is unfair towards them, as South African residents get preference to get stalls in the allocated spots for trading in the CBD.
Kebe says this victimisation only persists in Springs, as friends and family who trade in other Ekurhuleni cities do not have this problem.
Chief Superintendent Wilfred Kgasago, spokesman of EMPD, says the department is not harassing these hawkers, but enforcing the Ekurhuleni by-laws as prescribed in the
Gauteng Provincial Gazette.
He says the EMPD has the right to continuously “check up” on the hawkers, as these by-laws require that the hawkers have to comply with cleanliness requirements, as well as causing no obstructions and that the hawkers have to have a street trading licence.
On the EMPD taking the hawkers’ goods, Kgasago says it depended if the hawkers complied with their permit conditions.
“Most of them don’t trade within the demarcated areas.”
Kgasago further says the hawkers get fines each time the EMPD does their hawker inspections because they do not comply with the conditions of their permits.
He did not specify what conditions they had to abide by.
On the hawkers not getting back their goods, Kgasago says they seize the pirated DVDs and counterfeit goods and hand these to South African Federation Against Copyright Theft (SAFACT) for destruction.
“All confiscated goods are recorded and tagged,” says Kgasago.
Where would they like these people to sell their produce exactly?
Some of these people grow and produce the products they sell.The ideal would be to sell to a market or shops but they won’t give a small producer the time of day.