3 July 2009

A few weeks ago we, as the eThekwini District of the IFP, issued a statement in which we expressed our condemnation of the strong-arm tactics employed by the Municipal Police when they dealt with the traders of the Early Morning Market. And as we know, this inhuman approach by the Police emanates from the raging controversy between the traders and the eThekwini Municipality over the question of the proposed Mall.

We are very sad to report that, following our interactions with the leadership of the traders as well as some of the traders, we were forced to conclude that:

a)    Such apartheid-style tactics still go on despite official assurances to the contrary. For instance we were informed that, every morning the Metro Police man the entrance of the Market to check that each person does have that day's permit before they could be allowed in. In addition, the Police come in daily to harass the traders. In fact as we were there, we noticed a sudden commotion, with some traders screaming:

'here they come,' and beginning to hide their stock. When we asked what was happening, we were informed that they had seen the Police. Indeed the Police came in. However they just walked about and thereafter left; apparently because they saw us.  

b)    What is worse is that the eThekwini Municipality is not fair and honest in their dealing with the Traders. We learnt that suddenly the Municipality has categorized traders into the so-called illegal and the legal. This, despite that the same traders have been operating in that market for more than fifteen years, without the Municipality ever remembering that they were illegal. In all those years, the same Municipality has been accepting rent and surcharges from the same traders they now classify as illegal. Worse still, when we were there we were shown documentary evidence that the Municipality still continues to accept money from the same so-called illegal traders. What a double-standard!

Secondly, the Municipality talks of being owed millions of Rands by the traders. They are however not fair enough to accept responsibility for their negligence and inefficiency which led to them letting those defaulters operate for up to fifteen years without any action taken against them.

Lastly, there has been no proper consultation and negotiations with the affected traders on the question of the Mall. We, for instance, learnt from the Traders that they only learnt this year about this, while the Municipality claims that there have been consultations since 2007.

These are just a few examples of the Municipality's unjust treatment of the Traders. For more information we kindly furnish you with copies of a report we compiled after our interaction with the Traders. 

For the record, as the IFP, we are unequivocally committed to any program meant to develop and improve the City's infrastructure and other services, as well as to empower economically the residents of eThekwini.

But we also unequivocally condemn the unjust and arrogant manner in which the eThekwini Municipality is treating the Traders; and the brutality of the Metro Police.

We therefore call for:

i)    The immediate end to the Metro Police brutality and for the eThekwini Municipality to stop acting like apartheid bosses

ii)   Fair and genuine negotiations to end the deadlock

iii)  For a moratorium on all Municipal action against the Traders and for the retention of the status quo until negotiations have run their course

iv)   The Municipality to consider amnesty to those who are alleged to be owing rent because the Municipality's inefficiency is to blame for the mess

In order to demonstrate support to the just cause of the Traders and to pressurize for the speedy resolution of the impasse, we have taken the following resolutions; to:

i)    Write to the eThekwini Mayor, Mr. Obed Mlaba to demand adherence to our four resolutions (i- iv) spelt-out above

ii)   Urge the KwaZulu-Natal IFP Parliamentary Caucus to raise these issues in the Legislature

iii)  Consider a march to or protest action in front of the City Hall to highlight our positions

i)    Write to the MEC's Committee appointed by the Premier to highlight our positions and to urge them to expedite negotiations among all stakeholders

ii)   Prepare a position-paper which the IFP will table before the said 3-MEC's Committee, since they have asked for submissions from all stakeholders.

Delivered by:

M. Joshua Mazibuko

IFP Deputy Secretary And Spokesperson

072 927 0993