Hawkers in Lusikisiki have accused the Ingquza Hill Local Municipality of turning against its own people and robbing those who try to make an honest living through informal trading.
This after the municipality apparently started removing shacks and shipping containers erected by informal traders in the town’s CBD.
However, Eastern Cape Chamber of Business president Vuyisile Ntlabati said while the shacks, containers and caravans had turned many towns across the province into eyesores, local government still had a responsibility to look after the wellbeing of all citizens.
Some of the traders whose shacks were demolished or containers removed told of the difficulty of finding employment in a rural town such as Lusikisiki.
Their only option was to start their small informal businesses to take care of themselves and their families.
Thirty-year-old mother of two, Lulu Mazokolwana, said she had completed her college studies in 2019.
After getting a job as an education assistant with the department of education, she found herself unemployed a month later after her contract ended.
“It is very difficult. I tried for so long to get a job, but luck has not been on my side,” she said.
“I have children, and I have to pay school fees and for their scholar transport.
“I have to ensure they have enough food to eat and clothes on their backs.”
In 2022, she decided to take a leap of faith and opened a hair salon in the town’s CBD.
She paid R800 a month to rent a shipping container which she converted into a salon.
She said they were shocked when they received letters from the authorities earlier in April informing them to immediately close their businesses and remove their containers.
“We were told this [CBD] is municipal land. We are just trying to earn an honest living.
“All they said was that if they take your container themselves, they will keep it in a safe place, but they would charge you R200 every day for storage.”
Hawker Hazel Zim, who has been selling cooked meals from a shack since 2019, said the only communication she received from the municipality was in 2024.
At the time, hawkers had requested the municipality to provide an alternative place from which they could operate their businesses.
“We asked what happened to the government that promised to take care of its people, the one that encouraged the spirit of vukuzenzele [get up and do it yourself] and the one that promised to move you to a better place, but we never got any answers.
“I don’t know what I will do now to survive,” Zim said.
She is also a mother of two and has to pay for her children’s schooling needs, including scholar transport.
But Ingquza Hill municipal spokesperson Lwando Nonkonyana denied that authorities were removing shacks and containers.
Instead, he said municipal bosses were enforcing a court order allowing them to ask traders who had unlawfully erected stalls to vacate municipal land.
“Those who are within the law will not be moved.
“We are in the process of reclaiming the commonage that has been invaded by individuals unlawfully.
“This includes houses, trading stalls, and so on.
“The process started as far back as 2020 when the municipality contacted those occupying different pieces of land, both inside and outside town.
“There was some resistance, and the matter went to court.
“A court order was issued in favour of the municipality.”
The court order reportedly covers Lusikisiki and Flagstaff.
Nonkonyana said extensive consultations were then held to inform traders who were unlawfully occupying land to move, to avoid demolitions or removals.
The municipality was now left with no choice but to implement the court order and “assist those who couldn’t vacate voluntarily”.
“Everyone knows the procedure if one wants to trade in our space, so we urge those avenues to be used instead of grabbing any land that appears vacant.
“The municipality has plans in place and land invasion is not fair to those plans,” Nonkonyana said.
Ntlabati said the municipality had an obligation to find an alternative space where people could trade, adding that unemployment could drive people to crime.
Daily Dispatch
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