Illegal trading from municipal sidewalks and roads is a growing problem in Louis Trichardt.
Apart from this being illegal, pedestrians are forced onto the street, putting both their lives and those of motorists at risk. The lack of loading areas at businesses also causes further danger and frustration as heavy vehicles cause major traffic jams when they park in the streets to load and unload their cargo.
One such a business is the Build-it franchise on the corner of Kruger and Joubert Street. Since the store opened, they have been using the municipal sidewalk as a storage place for stock and a dumping site for building rubble. They have already received countless warnings from the Makhado Municipality, but merely continue with their illegal activities.
Other business owners in the area are fuming because of the unsightly conditions at the franchise, while they themselves try and make their premises as attractive as possible for customers. These businesses also continuously have to sacrifice their own customer parking to trucks offloading Build-it stock because the shop lacks an adequate loading area.
The situation at Build-it has been continuing for almost two years. The Makhado Municipality attempted several times to remedy the situation, even going as far as cutting off their electricity to force them to comply with the law. It is also worth mentioning that Makhado municipal manager Mr Sakkie Mutshinyali visited the premises several times in person to beseach Build-it's owner to cease the illegal activities.
On 11 November 2014, Mutshinyali entered into a special contract with Build-it in which it was agreed that the owner, Mr Aboo Akoo, would cease all illegal activities. "But they are playing games with us, and we are fed up with them," said Mutshinyali on Tuesday. He was approached directly for comment after the newspaper had been seeking feedback from the municipality for three weeks already. The Soutpansberg Chamber of Commerce and Makhado Sector Crime Forum also wrote several letters complaining about the unbearable situation.
Mutshinyali vehemently denied rumours that traffic officials are not acting against these violators. "I'm not denying that there might be officials whose conduct may be questionable, but in the case of Build-it we have taken action," said Mutshinyali. He confirmed that the municipality had instructed its attorney to proceed with legal action against owner Akoo. This was on 25 August 2016 when the municipality addressed a letter of instruction to their attorneys and notified Akoo of their intentions to start legal proceedings.
What particularly vexed Mutshinyali is that Build-it tried to fool him. According to Mutshinyali, the shop would invite the municipality to inspect how they had rectified the situation and cleaned up the sidewalks. "But you will find it is only at those times when the company's supplies are low. As soon as they receive their new stock, they just continue to put it everywhere illegally… I have reached my limit with them," said Mutshinyali.
On file, Mutshinyali had copies of seven traffic fines issued to various truck drivers who parked in Joubert Street opposite Build-it to offload stock. Only one fine was ever paid. Most of the fines had to be issued in the absence of the drivers, because they ran away when they saw traffic officials arriving at Build-it. Asked whether the municipality had considered impounding these trucks, Mutshinyali explained that this could only be done with repeat offenders. That is not the case at this stage.
On Tuesday, Akoo admitted that the situation at his store was problematic. He was unwilling to comment on the matter when the newspaper contacted him. "In all honesty, I cannot prevent you from publishing the story, like you have done in the past… but I've never been asked to give my side of the story," said Akoo.
The issue of trading from municipal sidewalks and using streets for loading and offloading purposes is certainly not unique to Build-it. Mutshinyali said that he had instructed the municipal traffic officials to address similar violations at Checkers (Anderson Street), Choppies (on the corner of Munnik and Songozwi Street) and Masekona Trading in Stubbs Street, to name but a few.