12 Aug 2018

Kanye Administrative Authority (KAA) chairperson says as much as the council is alive to tough economic times and joblessness, it will be a slip-up for it to overlook laws that regulate hawkers.

Mr Tlhomamo Dibeela said in an interview with BOPA on August 8 that KAA had in the past and on a number of occasions, engaged with hawkers about the importance of observing hawkers and street vending bye laws, but in vain.

“Although the piece of legislation in question says hawkers are at liberty to sell anywhere, that should not be misread to promote disorder in the way they conduct business,” he said of the growing incidents where some people cook in open spaces on sidewalks and pavements in contravention of the bye laws.

Mr Dibeela said while the council was appreciative of the indisputable fact that small scale businesses provide the much needed employment, non-compliance with the laws regulating such ventures could not be overlooked.

“We are not saying we are going to chase anybody, all that we are asking for is for our people to stay true to the provisions of the bye laws.

You will find that many such small scale business operators erect permanent structures in breach of this particular piece of legislation,” he said.

Mr Dibeela, who is also a councillor for Dilolwe ward in Kanye, relayed to BOPA that not only do such structures become breeding grounds for rodents that pose serious health hazard to the public, but also turn out to be safe havens for criminal elements.

To try and contain this growing trend, he stated that KAA would have to stamp its authority and impose penalties that include among others; a P20 fine or two months imprisonment for those found to be on the wrong side of the law.

He divulged further that as part of the long term strategy to fast-track Kanye industrialisation and ease influx within Kanye Central Business District, the authority  had secured business plots at Mpuutsane, Pitsaneng, Mheelo and Sejelo industrial sites to be disbursed to enterprising people.

Some hawkers who spoke to BOPA on condition of anonymity, some of whom did not have hawkers’ licences, claimed ignorance of the existing bye-laws.

A few however said they had undertaken to engage in business illegally due to lack of operational space and the fact that they had mouths to feed and bills to pay. ENDS