Pretoria - For 23 years, Margaret Baloyi has been eking out a living by selling fruit and fat cakes on the streets of Pretoria.
The Soshanguve woman raised her children with the income she earned through her small business and is proud that she was able to buy herself a bakkie with the savings she made over the years.
However, Baloyi said she was struggling to get over a traumatic experience she endured three years ago when a Tshwane Metro Police Department officer confiscated her bucket full of fat cakes and two 5kg gas canisters.
What pained her more was that when she went to the metro police offices to pay her fine, she was told her belongings were nowhere to be found.
“I know the metro police officer who took away my things. Every time I see him, I can’t help but to recall the pain he caused me,” Baloyi said.
She said she was told by the metro police that her wares were not recorded, and as a result they couldn't be recovered.
As far as she knows, metro police are supposed to record the confiscated items from informal traders so their owners can reclaim them whenever they have paid fines.
“I was struggling to come to terms with what happened to me, and I called the Barekisi Forum for assistance. They came to comfort me and talk to the metro police. I’m better now even though my stuff was never recovered,” Baloyi said.
She said those in authority should understand that selling on the streets is the only source of income for most informal traders.
“One of my children was brought up in the street, and she is now doing Grade 12,” she said.
As with many street traders, Baloyi said she was still operating with a permit issued during the Covid-19 lockdown. She blamed the City of Tshwane for delaying the process of issuing trading licences.
Many traders said the delay had been used as a loophole by some metro police officers to demand licence operating fees from traders in the streets.
Barekisi Forum secretary Mary Ngema said many informal traders had no choice but to pay licensing fees whenever approached by the metro police.
“In December, (the City of Tshwane) gave out a message that from January we must begin to pay for licences. We have been harassed enough by the metro police, who confiscated our wares. They took away my stock in October. We want to know what it is that we are paying for because we still don’t have electronic licences promised by the City,” she said.
The traders are expected to pay at least R175 monthly for operating in the streets, and those selling food have to pay an additional R300 for the occupation health certificate.
Ngema, who is selling food, said the metro police would confiscate goods from those unable to pay.
“We are now calling on Premier Panyaza Lesufi to intervene because Tshwane is useless. The metro doesn’t even have a mayor,” she said.
She said last week people were shocked when a metro police officer confiscated hot dogs belonging to a man who had been selling them on the corner of Thabo Sehume and Johannes Ramokhoase streets.
Witnesses told the Pretoria News that it was common to see informal traders plying their trade being removed by the metro police.
Baloyi said: “This harassment is happening very quietly, with the metro police targeting individual traders and confiscating their goods.”
Tshwane Metro Police Department spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba had yet to comment by the time of publication.
Pretoria News