Hawkers who used to have stalls in front of Fashion 4 U store in Market Square are fuming after the centre's security company told them to leave the area and threw away their stock.
Hawkers who used to have stalls in front of Fashion 4 U store in Market Square are fuming after the centre's security company told them to leave the area and threw away their stock.
This week Grocott's Mail reporters visited the Shoprite Centre and found the area usually occupied by the hawkers deserted. One of the hawkers, Nomalungisa Christian, said the head of the security company had not explained to them why they were being evicted from the centre. Christian said two weeks ago security officers had come to their stalls and thrown away everything they were selling.
"Our stuff was all over this place… this is our place, if they are evicting us here they must tell us where must we go," she said angrily. "After that violent eviction I decided to just sit at home. I'm scared of going back to that place now, because of what they did, chasing us away and throwing away our stuff."
Another hawker, Phumla Maselana, from Extension 8, said they had been selling at the centre for more than 20 years. Visibly frustrated, she said: "We are breadwinners, taking care of our families and now when they chase us away things are going to be more difficult back at home. I have four children and this is our only source of income," said Maselana.
Graham Botha, operations manager of JHI Properties, managing agents for the Market Square site, said the only problem with the hawkers was that they were crossing a yellow line on Beaufort Street, which is the centre's boundary.
"The line was drawn by the municipality after we went to their offices complaining about this misunderstanding between us and the hawkers," said Botha. He said municipality officials had explained to the hawkers that they should not cross it. Everyone had been happy with the decision at the time, Botha said. Botha claimed the municipality had failed to tell the hawkers where to do their business and said he wasn't sure whether they all had trading licences.
