For hawkers in the Louis Trichardt CBD, business is not always easy. In fact, lately, things have been very unpleasant. This is especially relevant to the informal traders who conduct business from hawkers' shacks at the Shoprite Taxi Rank in the centre of town.

The disgusting and nauseating sight of rotting refuse confronts one when visiting the area next to Tydstroom Take-Aways. In the middle of the area is a rubbish container that is overflowing. The stench is overwhelming.

Kiosk operators say the sight of the refuse and the thick stench shoo customers away from eating at their businesses, thus rendering their attempts to make ends meet useless.

“We pay money to use these spaces here,” says Mr Dolen Negota, chairperson of the Makhado Hawkers Association as he points at the stalls. “We need the municipality to tell us if this is a permanent dumping site or not. We are being treated very poorly.”

Negota maintains that throughout 2011, the municipality had been providing them with refuse bags, which Negota himself had volunteered to distribute to all stall operators. When the refuse bags were full, the municipal truck came and collected them. That has now apparently become a thing of the past. Hawkers are no longer provided with the bags, says Negota.

When Limpopo Mirror visited the hawkers on Monday, we noticed that the overflow of refuse is making the site prone to all kinds of dumping. Thick human faeces and disposable nappies could be seen about the place as well. "The municipality must be ashamed of this," said one female hawker, whose stall is quite close to the mess.

Tydstroom Take-Aways’ manager, Mr Riaan Volschenk, said that three municipal workers came to him and told him that large volumes of refuse came from his shop. He said that he was told to arrange for a refuse container out of his own pocket, since the available one was intended for the hawkers. As for him, the municipality would only help by coming to collect refuse, he said. “That’s totally strange and uncalled for,” said Mr Volschenk while shaking his head. “We need the municipality to give us written proof that says we must buy our own rubbish container. We pay business levies when we operate in this town. Why must we then buy a rubbish container?”

The spokesperson for the Makhado Municipality, Mr. Louis Bobodi, said that he would take up the matter with the relevant department within the municipality and investigations would be carried out.