The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality’s economic development, tourism and agriculture department wants to regulate informal traders in Korsten through the establishment of an informal traders’ association.
The city also wants to stop new informal traders from flocking to the area.
The plan for a moratorium was mooted in August 2021 to quell clashes between South Africans and foreign nationals operating in the area, but was never approved by the council.
It has since been brought back before the council.
Earlier in 2022, the Patriotic Alliance raided spaza shops in Korsten, mostly owned by foreign nationals, and ordered some of the shops to close after discovering expired products on the shelves.
In the report, penned by suspended executive director Anele Qaba, he wrote that the Korsten business hub — covering Durban Road — was one of the sought-after spots for informal traders in the Bay.
Qaba said the hub was strategically located along a transport network.
“The demand has surpassed space availability and tensions are beginning to show among informal traders in the area, especially between South Africans and those deemed foreign nationals,” Qaba said.
Qaba said the tensions in Korsten had been worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the other problems that had been identified in the area were:
- Loss of foot traffic to the hub due to Covid-19 and its impact on the economy;
- Decrease in revenue for informal traders;
- High crime rate;
- Litter and environmental hazards; and
- Disinvestment by formal business in the area.
“[The department] conducted an assessment in the area which indicates that there is a need to intervene,” Qaba wrote.
“The most important intervention is the implementation of a moratorium to halt the process of over-concentration of informal traders in one area given the above-mentioned challenges.
“Furthermore, it is important that the [municipality] intervenes by developing the Korsten Trading Area Forum (KTAF) that will be made up of internal and external stakeholders.”
The proposed plan also stipulates that the forum would be chaired by the ward councillor and receive administrative and project management support from the economic development department.
The moratorium would have come into effect from October 2021 to April 2022 but councillors who served in the committee before the November 2021 polls said the plan had not been presented before the council.
Patriotic Alliance chair Marlon Daniels on Monday proposed that the city work with the department of home affairs to determine who was in SA legally.
“This is not because we are targeting foreigners but this could resolve most of the issues in the area and people must comply with our laws,” Daniels said.
“There is a lot of [foot traffic] in Durban Road, we cannot at the expense of our own citizens allow foreigners to make money when our people are just bystanders.”
Economic development portfolio head Mkhuseli Jack said while he would not be opposed to the plan, he believed bylaws and rules should be enforced.
“I prefer that we apply the rules and regulations that are applicable to everybody rigorously,” Jack said.
He said this would reduce bad business tendencies among those operating in the area.
“This could be done with proper policing and checking if the people that are operating there have licences.
“This will reduce the number of people who don’t want to follow the rules,” Jack said.
“From where I’m standing, the issues in the area will be resolved with proper policing as opposed to using an arbitrary way.”
He said the establishment of an informal traders’ association in Korsten would also help regulate informal traders in the area.
“This will also assist the informal traders in the area to exchange views and learn from each other, as is the norm with informal traders’ associations in other areas,” Jack said.
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