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“This town is full of amaphara [drug addicts]. People are being robbed and cars are broken into every day. Yet they choose to bring guns to fight us.”
The outburst captured the anger of Mthatha street traders after King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) municipal law enforcement officers attempted to remove shipping containers used as informal businesses along Leeds Road near the Botha Sigcau Building on Tuesday.
When the Dispatch arrived shortly after midday, dozens of hawkers confronted municipal officials, shouting “Asizoyiki ezi zinja” (“We are not scared of these dogs”) as several public safety vehicles were forced to leave the area.
Only one container was impounded, but the operation sparked accusations that the municipality was unfairly targeting local traders while allowing foreign nationals operating similar businesses nearby to continue trading.
Several hawkers called on newly elected KSD mayor Nkosi Mkhanyiseli Dudumayo to intervene, saying they were simply trying to earn an honest living.
The municipality has resolved to remove about 200 shipping containers erected on pavements across Mthatha, arguing they contribute to urban decay, obstruct servitudes and contravene the municipality’s recently adopted street trading bylaw.
Street traders, however, insist the containers are their only source of income.
African Hawkers’ Association secretary Thalitha Jokozela said the municipality was ignoring a 2017 Mthatha high court order which, she claimed, required KSD to provide alternative trading space before removing the containers.
“They never consulted us when they came up with this bylaw. There are people who were issued with contravention notices and told to remove their containers recently,” she said.
“But others have not been issued with anything and yet containers are just being impounded.
“We feel we are just being targeted unfairly. I have been selling from a container for years and now they want to take it away. How am I supposed to feed myself and my children?”
Jokozela said the municipality had failed to meaningfully engage container owners before enforcing the bylaw.
She said traders met municipal officials and other stakeholders at the Mthatha Stadium late last month where they were allegedly told the municipality did not have a court order authorising the removal of the containers.
According to Jokozela, nearly 60 containers have already been impounded.
Disabled mother of two Busisiwe Dlakana, who has operated a food business from a caravan since 2008 and employs four young people, said the municipality was focusing on the wrong priorities.
“Crime is everywhere. People are being mugged and cars broken into almost daily. But they choose to come to us with public order police waving their big guns,” she said.
“We are trying to fend for ourselves and our children and we are not doing anything illegal to make money. Their problem is that they think we are illiterate and so they look down on us.”
In June, the Dispatch reported that more than 100 container owners had been issued with contravention notices and given seven days to remove their structures.
Former KSD councillor and ex-municipal public accounts committee chair Pasika Nontshiza accused the municipality of failing to follow its own legal processes.
He said the municipality had initially indicated it would obtain a court order before removing the containers but was now relying on a bylaw instead.
“What we can advise is for the municipality to get down from its high horse and come down and talk with the people to plan a way forward,” Nontshiza said.
Former ANC MP and Isanco leader Zukile Luyenge also questioned why local traders were allegedly being targeted, while foreign nationals operating similar container businesses appeared unaffected.
He said if the municipality intended removing the containers, it should first provide traders with an alternative site from which to operate.
Questions were sent to municipal spokesperson Sonwabo Mampoza on Wednesday morning but had not been answered by the time of publication.
Veteran businessman Vuyisile Ntlabati has previously welcomed the municipality’s decision to remove the containers, arguing that they have contributed to congestion in the Mthatha CBD.
Daily Dispatch
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