No income for struggling “N1-hawkers”

Hawkers who had previously been trading alongside the N1 where it passes through the Soutpansberg mountain, are in dire straits. Since the SA National Road Agency (SANRAL) erected barriers on the side of the road, business has come to a virtual standstill and most of them were left without any means of deriving an income.

In February 2012, SANRAL served the hawkers with notices of eviction and warned them to vacate the area because trading along the national road is illegal. The hawkers apparently also started encroaching on land belonging to private individuals. The hawkers initially ignored the authorities and persisted in trading alongside the road. SANRAL then erected wooden barriers next to the road, which made it almost impossible for motorists to pull off and buy fruit and vegetables from the hawkers.

When SANRAL was contacted for comment shortly after the barriers had been erected, they stated that they had little other option and this was the only effective way to address the problem. The communications manager of SANRAL, Vusi Mona, then appealed to the newspaper and the local communities to find vacant land that is located along the N1 road. “SANRAL appeals to your newspaper, its readers, and the residents in the pass to make available some property that is located alongside the N1 and is safe to provide access in and out and that can be developed into a trading area that will hopefully then remove the traders from the edge of the N1, so they can operate within this facility,” said Mona.

Such a solution has seemingly not yet come to the fore and the hawkers are struggling. A lobby group was formed and pleas for assistance were made to the office of the President, the local municipality, the Premier’s office, SANRAL and the Human Rights Commission. The hawkers argued that it would have been better if the authorities tried to understand their grievances and provided solutions.

Talking to Limpopo Mirror last Friday, hawkers acknowledged that they were trading along the N1 without permits. They said they had applied for hawkers' permits from the Makhado municipality, but these were not granted.

Municipal spokesperson Mr Louis Bobodi said the area was controlled by SANRAL and the municipality could not assist. “Yes, we would like for those people to have their own spot and continue to trade legally, but unfortunately we don’t have authority in that area and it’s illegal to trade along the national road,” said Mr Bobodi. 

One of the hawkers is the 44-year-old Ms Elisah Maruli, who explained that she had been trading at one spot along the N1 road since 2002. Since the barriers were erected, she had to pull her child out of college as she cannot afford the tuition fees any more. The mother of four and a single parent said she could no longer afford to provide for her family. She also lost the money she had invested in her stock.

Ms Magret Tshivhase (44) from Nzhelele said she was suffering and her children were lingering around the streets because she could not afford to pay for their education fees. “My child passed Grade 12 and she has to stay at home because we no longer have any source of income,” she said.

News - Date: 18 July 2014

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