Debswana�s Shot In The Arm For Jwaneng Hawkers
Lebogang Baingapi | Monday April 10, 2017 18:00
A delegation sent by the town clerk, Dick Kalantle brought good news to the hawkers on Thursday. The Chief commercial affairs technician, Ditshupo Wilson however explained that the structures remain the property of the council and the tenants will have no authority to pass it to the next person after allocation.
“We will lease the structure to hawkers for a certain period. You should however note that this is a consultative meeting to design the procedure of allocation,” she said.
She further noted that preference will be given to hawkers with trading licences. One of the hawkers, Bushiri Mogotsi expressed gratitude to the council for seeking alternatives for smooth trading of hawkers. He however vowed to only vacate his lucrative prime space if he can be given the stall permanently at a similar economically viable place.
Most of the hawkers were not convinced that the condition of rotating in a stall will benefit them. They called on the council to allow them to own the stalls for life so that they can benefit for a much longer time.
The chief bye-law technician, Ishmael William assured them that all their suggestions will be considered when framing the procedure of allocation of the said stalls.
As the matter stands, hawkers at Jwaneng live in fear of being evicted by the mall owners. The latest edition are informal traders at Choppies mall who were arrested last year for trading in front of the shops.
Though the legal threat by the mall management company, Advent Enterprises, to the hawkers to vacate their premises did not rattle them, they remain unsettled as they once went and made police affidavits that banned them from selling in front of the said mall.
Lorato Balefile who sells farm harvest and fruit acknowledged that the mall manager has exhausted all the means of removing them peacefully. However, hunger and poverty forced them to return to the premises. She said there was nowhere they could go because Choppies mall is the only prime area for business in Jwaneng.
She was however not impressed by the treatment amidst the reality of unemployment. “We are always chased around and the past two weeks have been tough because we had relocated to a space near FNB. Most of our fruit and vegetables got rotten and we made a loss.
We will continue to trade in the premises until a Court order arrives and we will lodge an application in Court for us to be heard as well. In the meantime, we are not going anywhere,” said one of the vegetable vendors who preferred anonymity.
Last year, the mall company represented by Thabiso Tafila, a partner at Minchin and Kelly law firm, issued the informal traders with eviction letters that bore an ultimatum saying ‘move out or else’, but they have since been reluctant to move until early this year.