4 June 2010

Street vendors in Rustenburg who earlier this week won a challenge against their eviction from the streets by the Rustenburg municipality were notified on Thursday that they must appear in the High Court in Mafikeng to respond to the Municipality again on Monday.

World Class Cities For ALL (WCCA) Campaign organiser, Paul Shambira, said today that Rustenburg Municipality was one of the host cities for the FIFA World Cup and has been moving the street and market vendors as part of pre-FIFA ` beautification` without consulting street vendors nor providing any alternatives for them. Informal traders have resisted further marginalisation and are demanding `fair trade` and for opportunities that exist for informal trade during the World Cup to be extended to them.

Last week the organisation Kgetsie ya Tsie Poor People`s organisation took their forced removal to court and Rustenburg municipality lost their bid to remove informal traders from the streets after the court told them that it was illegal. Shambira said that a court order brought by informal traders against municipality in 2007 to stop their removal is still in force. “In effect the court order endorses the rights of the street traders to earn an honest living`, he said.