23 Jul 2013

Street vendors in Palapye have been urged to stop conducting businesses within the road reserve.

Addressing street vendors and hawkers during a meeting on Monday, department of roads official, Ms Kerwele Ntuane said her department did not encourage doing business within the road reserve. She said street vendors and hawkers operating along the A1 road should move away from the road reserve because it was dangerous for them to carry out business along that road.

She said vehicles using that road were travelling at a high speed as such vendors and hawkers were putting their lives in danger. She said therefore that they should remove structures, which they erected along the road.

For his part, Palapye Administration Authority assistant council secretary, Mr Goloswang Ramogala warned street vendors and hawkers who erected structures to remove them. He said vendors and hawkers were not allowed to erect any structure in areas they operated in.

He said street vendors and hawkers had no right on the land they operated in, therefore should not erect structures in those areas. He said a hawker was a person who carried on the business of selling goods from a pitch at which he stationed himself/herself in a convenient public place.

He said therefore that hawkers should not erect or expose goods for sale in any tent, booth or stall unless approved by the council. He urged hawkers to remove untidy structures erected in the shopping malls and also clean the areas they operated in.

Mr Ramogala said after the last meeting with vendors and hawkers, only a handful of them had made an attempt to clean their surroundings and remove structures not in use. He said however that the council was not yet satisfied as such called on those who were lagging behind to do so.

He said the new bus rank that was still under construction would provide hawkers with stalls to operate their businesses. Contravening these bye-laws attracted a fine not exceeding P2 000 on first conviction and a fine not exceeding P5 000 on second conviction.

One vendor. Ms Maretha Oganne complained that trucks that parked near the bus rank contributed to the filthiness of that area. She accused truck drivers of throwing used condoms and toilet papers in that area, hence calling for the council’s intervention.

Another vendor Ms Setlogelo Tsere encouraged fellow vendors to remove structures they had erected. She said she and other few vendors tried their best to clean and remove unwanted structures but complained of lack of cooperation between street vendors and hawkers. ENDS