EVERYONE in town has become familiar with the sight of street vendors on the main roads in Richards Bay.
These include the charcoal sellers in Anglers Rod, gas refills, biltong, plants, fishing gear and at times even garage sales on North Central Arterial.
Then there are also cars parked there that is for sale.
Most of these vendors are pensioners without any other income other than selling their goods next to the road.
These areas used to be earmarked for street vendors, together with areas alongside the taxi rank and near the Steel Bridge.
However, during the December holidays, which is normally peak season for street vendors, the municipality fined all of these vendors R300 each for selling goods without permits. They were told that a new system would be implemented in February and they were told to meet at the Civic Centre about two weeks ago.
The new rules for street vending in this area are very limited:
• The permit is R200 monthly.
• Vendor stand must be of a specific size (three square metres)
• Vending is only allowed over weekends
• If a vendor sells goods on any other day, his/her stock will be confiscated
The impact of these rules are extraordinary.
As it is the only income for some of the vendors, their income will now take a huge knock.
Selling gas refills and charcoal only twice a week will not cover monthly bills and some of them are faced with hard times.
Most of the vendors are pensioners and they feel quite defeated and not sure how they will make ends meet from now on.
FAIRNESS
