Promises of big numbers of people that will bring KwaZulu-Natal’s capital city to a standstill next week has left business — big and small — seething at three days of lost business.
African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma’s supporters, from trade unions to the ANC Youth League and taxi associations, have promised to pack Pietermaritzburg’s Market Square outside the court, which will on Monday and Tuesday hear his application to have the decision by the National Prosecuting Authority declared unlawful.
The very next day after Zuma’s application, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is staging a national one-day stayaway in protest against the electricity crisis and rising cost of living.
A Pietermaritzburg taxi owner, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he has no option but to keep his taxis off the road during Zuma’s trial.
”It doesn’t matter what I think. I’m not interested in politics. See this taxi, brother, it’s my bread. My taxis will be at home. In this business, you cannot have a stiff neck, otherwise you’ll be lying there in the cemetery,” he said.
The manager of a furniture store in Pietermaritzburg’s Church Street, which is the main road that runs past the Pietermaritzburg High Court, said he will ”see how it is” before deciding whether to stay open.
”Some staff will be afraid to come in. Like most businesses around here, there is a policy of no work, no pay. So the staff lose. We will try to accommodate them, but what can we do?”
He said that even if the shop does stay open, he believes that the customers will feel intimidated by the masses of people in the square. ”It depends on the day. If it looks dangerous, we’ll close,” he said.
Zegray Pelzer, the owner of Bargain Basket, also on Church Street, said: ”We stand to lose lots of money. I don’t know if my staff will be able to come [to work].”
He said the city’s authorities have also not told businesses what will be happening during Zuma’s trial. ”They have told us nothing. If he goes to [criminal] trial for two, three months, what’s going to happen to us? I built this business up from scratch over the last 10 years. They can close us in a month.”
He said vital business will be lost because Zuma’s trial and the national stayaway are taking place at the beginning of the month when people have money in their pockets.
Pelzer said that the only time he had closed his business in the past 10 years was when there was a taxi strike. He said that during Zuma’s previous court appearances he had ”had no business”.
Closed
Nedbank, on the corner of Chief Albert Luthuli Street (formerly Commercial Street) and Church Street, on Friday had a sign in its window saying that the branch will be closed from Monday to Wednesday.
Pietermaritzburg Tourism’s office on Chief Albert Luthuli Street will also be closed, but officials will be operating its other office in the Liberty Mall.
Pietermaritzburg Tourism spokesperson Melanie Veness said: ”It’s pretty useless if people [tourists] can’t access us.” However, she said hotels have been booked out from Sunday to Wednesday.
Across Market Square at the Upper Crust Patisserie, manager Johan Venter said: ”We don’t predict any problems. If there’s trouble, we’ll just close the door. People must eat and that’s good for us.”
However, a fruit and vegetable trader in the square, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: ”These people [Zuma supporters] don’t buy a lot. And with so many people, how can I put up my stand?”
Her brother, who had joined her for the day, said: ”When he was spending the money he was spending it alone. He should go and stand trial alone so we can carry on with our business. If he wins, it’s only those people who are his supporters that will get something.”
A sweets and cooldrink trader, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said she does not expect business to be good. ”They don’t buy anything and the usual customers don’t come when they are here.”
‘Minimum disruption’
Andrew Layman, chairperson of the Pietermaritzburg Chamber of Business, said he hopes there will be minimum disruption to business on Monday and Tuesday.
”We are not expecting people to stay away from work on these two days because we have been told that taxis would be operating. The expected stayaway that many people have spoken about is not likely to occur,” he said.
Apart from businesses situated near the court, Layman said most businesses will operate as normal and ”one hopes there would not be much loss”.
However, he said, the chamber expects a big loss on Wednesday as taxis will be joining Cosatu’s national stayaway.
On Thursday, the ANC Youth League’s KwaZulu-Natal provincial leadership announced that Pietermaritzburg ”will not move” during the two days that Zuma is in court. It said that the province’s taxi bodies — the KwaZulu-Natal Transport Alliance (KZNTA) and the smaller KwaZulu-Natal Taxi Council — will be stopping operations in support of Zuma.
Repeated attempts to contact Eugene Hadebe from the KZNTA were unsuccessful on Friday. — Sapa