March 18, 2003
By Tendai Dhliwayo
FOLLOWING proposals made to the City of Johannesburg by the Informal Business Forum (IBF) to allow spaza shops to continue operating, the Yeoville community is going to have a say in whether they support the operation of those outlets in their area or not. And should the residents lend their support to spaza shop owners, the planned rezoning will be stopped.
According to Inner City councillor, Sol Cowan, there will be public exercise that will try to get people's views on spaza shops to see if they are for or against them. He said residents would be given forms to fill in and state their preference.
This was revealed at a meeting held by the Inner City Regeneration team comprising Martin New, Cowan and ward 67 Councillor Nomaswazi Mohlala. Yeoville spaza shop owners and other concerned residents who converged on the recreation centre for the meeting last week Wednesday.
Mohlala, having delved into various issues affecting Yeoville, handed over to Cowan to talk about the much-anticipated topic: spaza shops in the area.
"We are not against retail activities or small businesses. We believe these should not be done haphazardly," said Cowan. Following the12 February raid on spaza shops in Yeoville, he added, proposals have been made by the IBF to allow these small shops in the area. "We are looking at those proposals to find a way forward."
Also in the pipeline is the amendment of some of the laws that are applicable to accommodate those running small businesses as well as "the concerned use of land". Should spaza shops be allowed to operate in Yeoville, said Cowan, they will not be allowed to sell liquor, and cannot operate in front of schools as well as near formalised businesses.
But spaza shops and phone shops were not the only informal businesses closed down in the past few weeks. Informal butcheries and panel beating operations have also been shut.
New explained that under no circumstances can the city allow an abattoir to operate in a residential area. He said the same about panel beating operation's as they create noise pollution. "If we allow that to happen, people will do what they like and chaos will reign." And society will slide into anarchy if by-laws are not enforced, he said.
At the end, it was comments rather than questions emanating from the concerned listeners.
The booming voice of Edmund Elias, IBF spokesperson, reverberated throughout the venue. He argued that it would be incorrect to generalise and label all spaza shops as havens of criminal acts. "There are good people running genuine tuckshops. We are in the process of compiling a list of all bonafide operators and the list will be handed to council in a few days."
One concerned citizen commented that people want to lead better lives. Prior to the 1994 elections, Yeoville was a white area. After elections, blacks started pouring in, "Why? he asked the stunned audience. "The reason is that people were running away from shebeens in the townships and Yeoville did not have that. So why shebeens here?"
As if to tease the alert audience, he posed a question. "Talking of by-laws, how many of you know what by-laws are?" In response to the somehow challenging question, only a few hands shot up. "One, two, only three. You see. Do we understand by-laws?" Like a tutor expounding to concerned learners, he added, "if we understand by-laws, we will support council to give us the power to stop people from breaking laws".
He continued, "We want peace, safety and clean streets. We as a community should dictate the kind of place we want to live in. Therefore we should speak strongly and support the council and the police." He concluded by saying he sympathised with the council that had to go the extra mile of cleaning up Yeoville by demolishing spaza shops and closing down scrapyards.
