FRIDAY, 4.30PM
GAUTENG safety and security MEC Jessie Duarte and informal traders’ organisations on Friday condemned the looting and destruction of property during protest action on Wednesday and Thursday.
On Thursday afternoon, 120 hawkers were arrested for taking part in illegal marches after they marched on police stations to demand the release of six of their colleagues arrested after Wednesday’s rampage.
Hawkers’ organisations on Friday said they distanced themselves from those actions and committed themselves to work closely with the provincial government in trying to develop the sector. The organisations are the African Council of Hawkers and Informal Business (Achib), the Federated Association for Informal Traders and Hawkers (Faith), Pretoria Informal Business Association (Piba), the Masakhane Business Association (Mabo) and the African Development of Informal Businesses (Adiba).
“We only became aware of the group that marched on Wednesday and yesterday [Thursday] through posters which were pasted throughout the city streets and through the news reports on Thursday,” Duarte said at a media briefing in Johannesburg. She said her department and the recognised hawkers’ organisations had worked together over the last few months to unite the hawkers in the province, improve the sector through training, participate actively in crime prevention, accelerate the registration process and ensure the removal of illegal traders, including illegal immigrants, through lawful means.
“Indeed, we note that this hawker sector is also negatively affected from growing by criminality in which illegal immigrants play a role, and we vow to make sure that this situation is redressed through lawful means,” she said. “All prospective hawkers should register with the Johannesburg Metropolitan Council,” she added.
Johannesburg Inner City Development Forum chair Lindsay Bremner said the council is studying a report which will lead to the establishment of an informal trading forum, which will facilitate consultation with informal trading associations.