A fruit and veg trader is gatvol of Law Enforcement officers confiscating his stock.
Farouk Brenner, 54, has been trading on the corner of the 5th Avenue and Prince George Drive in Grassy Park for two years.
He says on Tuesday at 2pm, the officers arrived and took his stock and gave him a R800 fine.
“I have been trading for more than two years in the area and my stock has been confiscated three times,” says Farouk.
“They tell me to fetch my things from them but they don’t realise that they spoil the stock because their storage is not a cold room and the stuff goes vrot there.
“On Tuesday they took my fish and fruit and vegetables and I had to pay R800 to get it back.
“I also had to pay my employees even though there was no work because of Law Enforcement.”
The father of six says that the City is taking food out of people’s mouths: “I give people jobs and stop crime and drugs.
“I have employed people who are tired of sitting at home and who don’t want to be gangsters.
“This harassment is making them scared to work.
“The people who work with me have families, we live in a country where jobs are scarce.”
Law Enforcement spokesman Wayne Dyason tells the Daily Voice that the trader was warned on numerous occasions to stop trading at the intersection as it creates a traffic hazard.
“He failed to comply and was then fined for trading at the intersection and causing a traffic hazard,” he says.
But Farouk says that is not the case.
“There is no way that I am obstructing traffic, and why would they let me trade this long if that was the story?
“They just want me to trade in places where there is no business.”