Curio salesman Peter Mukendi has to come up with R500 before his confiscated wares will be returned to him.
|||Cape Town - An informal trader pleaded with law enforcement officers to be careful with his goods as they tossed them in blue and black bags because he did not have his permit to hand.
Peter Mukendi and Muhamad Farah were the only two traders fined in a blitz by the city on Wednesday. They both trade in St George’s Mall.
Mukendi was fined R500 and his African curios were seized. Farah was also fined R500.
Mukendi said his wife had made a payment last week and the permit had been with her since.
“There is a permit - it’s just not here. I don’t understand why they have to take the stuff - they can just give me a fine.
“What if they damage my stuff? They won’t want to pay.”
Mukendi said his stand had been in St George’s for two years and he had not been fined before, nor had his merchandise been confiscated.
He said he now had to pay the R500 fine and an additional R635 to release his wares.
Farah, who has a concession stand just outside Newspaper House, said he would have to make a plan to raise R500 by the end of the month.
“They gave me a fine because the drinks were outside the yellow block. The lady didn’t even give us a chance to try to push it back - she just wrote the fine quickly.”
The city’s executive director of safety and security, Richard Bosman, said officers checked hawkers every week.
“One fine was issued and one impoundment... On impoundment, the owner is issued with an impound notice which explains when, where and how they can claim their goods back.”
Bosman said the city was not liable for any damage to impounded goods, but dealt with traders with “courtesy and respect”.
“The trader has one month to claim the goods back. After three months the goods go to public auction. Goods can be claimed before the auction.”
The specialised Informal Trading Unit initiated the blitz.
Impounded goods are taken to the pound store in Ndabeni, near Maitland, for safekeeping.
Cape Argus