A 57-year-old vendor says he could only watch helplessly as City of Cape Town Law Enforcement officers confiscated his goods in the CBD leaving him with nothing.
Ebrahim Solomons from Bo-kaap owns a fruit and veg stand at the corner of Long and Strydom Streets and says on Monday, officers demanded to see the vendors’ informal trading permits.
He says his permit was with his daughter who was at the dentist at the time.
Ebrahim sat in front of his truck to try and prevent officers from confiscating his stock but was pushed away, says his angry son Waseef.
Waseef had a copy of the permit on his phone, which he presented to the officers.
“But they wouldn’t take it, all they wanted was take my stuff away and demand that I go pay the R500 fine and fetch the stock from Bellville,” says Ebrahim.
“You pay a R500 fine and R1600 for collection. My stock is worth R2000. Either way is a loss for me.
Waseef, 31, says their family relies on his dad’s business for survival.
“It was so sad and heartbreaking to see my father sitting in front of the truck preventing it from leaving as my sister was bringing the hard copy of our permit. They pushed him out of their way and left.”
Wayne Dyason, spokesperson for City Law Enforcement, says: “Only hard copies of permits, or original certified copies will be accepted when requested by an authorised official, as described under the Informal Trading By-law as amended.
“If a hard copy is not available when requested, officials can confiscate/impound.
“It was explained to Mr Solomons that a hard copy of the permit was necessary because it allowed law enforcement to check its validity, which is not always possible on digital devices.
“It should be noted the trader broke most of the regulations relating to the Informal Trading Bylaw and the conditions of his trading permit.”
But Ebrahim says: “I want justice for what they did. They had no right, I am permitted to sell here.”