Traffic officers have been making car washers' lives miserable according to Given Madinda, who makes a living by washing cars in the Grahamstown CBD.
Traffic officers have been making car washers' lives miserable according to Given Madinda, who makes a living by washing cars in the Grahamstown CBD.
"They are blaming us for the cracked tar on the roads, they say that the water we use to wash the cars is damaging the roads. How am I supposed to survive? This is the only way I can make a living, because there are no job opportunities in Grahamstown," added Madinda.
Xolani Solani, a car washer from Tantyi Location said, "The traffic officers said we must move from High Street, even from the CBD for that matter and go find a place in the location. In the location, for example in Fingo village, the car washers there are being chased away as well by the same traffic officers."
Solani said that they were told by traffic officers to find another way to continue with their business elsewhere, not in the CBD. "We have our own loyal customers that come to us to wash their cars and they find nothing wrong with what we are doing. We have nothing and this is our way of making money using the Vuk'uzenzele programme as the former president had said. We do not want to go back to jail, vuk'uzenzele means (we should get up and do it ourselves)," added Solani.
He was referring to former President Thabo Mbeki's address delivered during Freedom Day celebrations in Durban on 27 April 2005.
A car owner who prefers to remain anonymous said, "I see nothing wrong being done by these guys, It is their way of making a living which is much better than begging and committing crime. I come here to wash my car quite often, I support these guys, this is nonsense. Doesn't the rain crack the road?
This is just a silly excuse from the Municipality, the traffic officers should find something better to do." Makana municipal spokesperson Thandy Matebese said, "Every business needs to be registered in order to operate, if these guys do not have a business licence then they can't operate. If the municipality would allow them to operate without restriction then the whole CBD streets would be full of the car washers."
