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Hawkers operating outside the Gillwell Mall in East London claim they have lost their stock and other belongings after Buffalo City Metro officials confiscated the items as part of a “cleanup” initiative.
This, they say, is despite BCM failing to live up to a promise, made years ago, to provide them with a suitable trading area elsewhere.
Out of the 50 hawkers operating outside the mall, about 30 claimed to have had their produce and equipment confiscated by the authorities.
This left many of the informal traders devastated, leading some to sleep outside with their children to safeguard their remaining belongings.
BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said: “There was no eviction of any hawkers, but the removal of pallets on pavements obstructing the movement of people.
“Many of these pallets were not even in use. These are ongoing interventions that are directed at ensuring that the CBD is clean, safe from fires and that there are no illegal structures built using pallets and criminal activities that may arise as a result this.”
Hawkers who spoke to the Dispatch said metro officials had promised to move them to designated stalls more than a decade before construction of the mall had started.
They accused the mall’s management of complaining to the municipality to have them removed, an allegation that it denied.
An emotional Nompinda Jali-Zoyi said she started selling goods in the area shortly after her mother passed away 27 years ago and has used her earnings to sustain her family.
“Where there is a mall used to be a rank and we were able to operate.
“We were promised by the municipality and the company that built the mall that they would move us to a place that would be conducive for trade,” she said.
She said they were previously offered storage space in the mall but it was not safe for their produce, which often got damaged.
“We were losing money ... We had to resort to leaving our produce in the stalls and covering it at the end of a business day,” she said.
Jali-Zoyi said on Wednesday evening she was packing up when law enforcement and BCM officials swooped.
“It was around 7pm when they arrived, they took some of my produce even though I was crying.
“I had to sleep here and guard my produce alongside my two children because this is the only source of income that I have.
“All we want is to be at least given an alternative place where we can trade,” she said.
Vuyiswa Zinto, 57, said her business was the only source of income in her household.
“I don’t have anything left, they took four boxes of intestines, pans and stoves,” she said.
Zoleka Deki, also 57, said she has been working as a street vendor since 1994.
In 1996, the hawkers had to negotiate with the municipality, which led to its health directorate giving them certificates to trade.
“I did not sleep yesterday because I don’t know what I am going to do — this business helps my family, I have children who need the money every day to go to school,” she said.
Gillwell mall centre manager Kelvin Everts said management went the extra mile to assist the hawkers by providing overnight storage for their produce.
“We supply storage for them to put their produce and equipment away. The only complaint we had was the illegal gambling that is happening on Gillwell Road.
“There is no complaint from our side with the hawkers. They are part of our community outreach since we supply storage,” he said.
Ngwenya said the few items removed were taken for safe storage and that the affected traders had been advised where they should be collected in the morning.
He said the municipality has a responsibility to clean and clear waste materials in the streets of the CBD.
The metro had many local economic development programmes that were aimed at empowering hawkers.
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