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Thousands of traders might lose jobs as market turns into mall
By
Kristin Palitza
(IPS) - Hundreds of traders at the Early Morning market
in Durban fear the municipality’s plans to turn the area into an upscale
shopping mall that will cost them their livelihoods. The redevelopment
is one of many currently underway in South Africa’s urban centres to
upgrade city infrastructure for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
"We are for
the upgrade of the precinct, but we want all stakeholders, including
ourselves, to be consulted," said Roothren Moodley, member of the
Warwick Junction Precinct Plan Stakeholders Forum. "But instead of
consulting with us, the city council has steamrolled its plans onto us."
The
eThekwini Municipality plans to transform the Warwick Junction market
into a mall geared towards a middle class clientele. The market is
well-known as a place where poor South Africans can purchase fresh fruit
and vegetable cheaply. It is located in the heart of the city and can be
easily accessed using public transport.
The 674
traders who currently sell their wares at the market will be temporarily
relocated to a building in nearby Alice Street, until city officials
have identified a new location for them.
But the
traders say the new building can only house 150 stalls - less than a
quarter of the traders currently operating from the Early Morning
market. "The municipality will give a few traders preference and the
rest of us will be left with nothing," complained Moodley.
"People are
very worried," agreed stallholder Iraivan Naidoo. "Each stall has two to
three workers, which means that almost 2,000 people’s income will be in
danger. What are they doing to our people?"
City
officials, however, believe the traders have nothing to complain about.
"There was more than enough consultation. We have held several meetings
[with traders] since January 2009 and we will consider their input,"
claimed acting head of the eThekwini Business Support Unit, Philip
Sithole.
He says he
asked the traders to submit a list of their needs to the municipality.
"As long as
the traders are legal, they will not be [negatively] affected by the
relocation to [a building in] Alice Street. We will accommodate all of
them," Sithole promised. "I don’t know what their problem is. If they
have issues, they need to talk to us."
He added the
municipality was about to conduct a feasibility study to find a
long-term alternative to house the traders.
Pat Horn,
coordinator of Durban-based street vendor association StreetNet
International, sees the situation differently: "We have been trying to
engage the municipality since November 2007, but they have completely
and stubbornly refused to meet with us."
"They have
also sabotaged our efforts to make the concerns of the vendors public
every single step along the way," she added, noting that every time the
traders applied for permission to hold marches or vigils to protest the
mall, they were denied authorisation by the municipality.
Horn
explained the traders are "more than willing" to agree on feasible
alternatives. "We are not against progress of infrastructural
development but against doing it by destroying people’s livelihoods,"
she said.
The traders
have now decided to stick to their guns and resist the municipal
relocation plans. "We are not moving from here until we have clarity on
what will happen to us," declared Harry Ramlal, chairperson of the
Stakeholders Forum. "We want [the municipality to make us] a permanent,
viable proposition, backed up by a feasibility study."
Ramlal
stressed the fact that the traders are "not against development" but
insist on a democratic decision making process that involves stakeholder
consultation, as stipulated in the Municipalities Act of 2000.
"We want a
centrally located, safe place with space for everyone," Ramlal told IPS.
The municipality’s current proposition to move the traders temporarily
for four months will cost ratepayers hundreds of thousands of Rands
[tens of thousands of US Dollars], while not securing traders’
livelihoods in the long-term, he further explained.
Vegetable
stallholder Million Phehlukwayo and his wife Claudia say they are hugely
concerned about the future of their family as well as the families of
their seven employees. "Our income supports my extended family of 15. If
the mall project is realised, we will be left in the dark. We don’t have
a Plan B," says Phehlukwayo.
He is
disappointed by the decisions of government officials he says he has
voted into power. "The city says ‘Let’s work together’, but it’s all
pretence. They are not working with us. I don’t understand why we are
not part and parcel of this. We also have the right to benefit from the
2010 World Cup," Phehlukwayo added.
Traders have
been selling fruit and vegetables at the Warwick Junction Early Morning
market for almost a century - since 1910. Most of them are third or
fourth generation merchants who have inherited their business from their
grandparents or great-grandparents.
WarwickJunction merchants largely come from low-income groups, are
minimally educated, and the majority of them is illiterate. "Most of us
will not be able to get jobs if we lose the market, and most of us live
from day to day," lamented Naidoo.
"We are
rooted here historically and believe it is immoral to suddenly threaten
our livelihoods," said Moodley who took over his stall from his
grandmother a couple of decades ago.
"We don’t
understand why we need another mall when there are already five or six
malls within a ten kilometre radius," said Naidoo.
Naidoo
believes eThekwini Municipality is out to make a quick buck by leasing
what will become the Warwick Junction Mall Ltd to a private developer
for $2.5 million over 50 years - a figure the municipality released as
part of a public notice. He is convinced if the municipality would
support the traders, it could even make more money in the long term.
"Currently,
the market makes R100,000 [$11.000] in surcharge revenue. This would add
up to R60 million [$6.61] in 50 years," he explained.
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