Grahamstown trader Zukisani Lamani, says he is battling to survive after officials seized his goods. However, Makana Municipality has urged him to apply for a trading licence.
Grahamstown trader Zukisani Lamani, says he is battling to survive after officials seized his goods. However, Makana Municipality has urged him to apply for a trading licence.
Lamani said he was selling sunglasses and keyholders in High Street earlier this year, when police confiscated his goods. He said a traffic department official asked him why he was selling in High Street.
Lamani said the official told him he needed to have a licence to sell goods in the street. "I told him that I was just walking around. It's not like I have a stall," Lamani said.
"The officer said he could see I am smart and he left. Not too long after, while I was still busy counting cash, another traffic officer came with police officers. "They said they would give me a fine for selling there in High Street because I don't have a licence. They eventually issued me with the fine.
"But my confusion was that when I tried to apply for a trading licence I was told there was no need for it since I don't have a stall," said Lamani. Lamani said since the officials confiscated his goods, he had struggled to support his family. He said it had been his living for four years. "I'm confused now when they take my stuff because I was running a clean business. The government always encourages people to try for themselves and not do crime," said Lamani.
Lamani has started trading again and says he won't stop because he is not breaking any law. Makana Municipality spokesperson Yoliswa Ramokolo said Makana Municipality's bylaws required Lamani to have a trading licence. "All street hawkers are obliged to have a trading licence," said Ramokolo.
"He should go to the municipal offices and apply for it." Police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender said if Lamani was issued with a fine, then he should go to court and state his case. A bylaw on the Makana Municipality website says there are places where street trading is prohibited. It says it should be the municipality that gives permission to trade in terms of an agreement or by means of the display of a sign.
According to the bylaw, no person may carry on the business of a street trader in the following places:
* In a garden or a park to which the public has a right of access;
* On a verge contiguous to a building belonging to, or occupied solely by, the State or the municipality.
The bylaw says the municipality must by public notice erect a sign indicating such areas of street trading, and the notice must indicate the restriction of prohibition against street trading.
It says a person who carries on the business of a street trader in contravention of a notice contemplated above is committing an offence.
The bylaw states that the owner of goods who wishes to claim their return must, within a period of one month of the date they were taken apply to the municipality and must present the receipt.
Failure to do this would result in the goods being sold by the municipality, the bylaw states.
