Businesses using municipal sidewalks and roads to trade from are still a problem in Makhado (Louis Trichardt), despite municipal by-laws explicitly prohibiting such practices.

One such business is the Build it franchise on the corner of Kruger and Joubert Street.

Since the opening of the franchise, they have been using the municipal sidewalk as a storage place for stock and a dumping site for their building rubble. Because of this practice, pedestrians are forced to walk in the street, causing a dangerous situation for both them and motorists. Another frustration is that motorists are continuously left stranded in the middle of the street while having to wait for stock to be off-loaded from heavy vehicles. Other business owners in the area are also becoming more and more irate with Build it because of the unsightly conditions at the franchise, despite these owners' best efforts to make their business premises as attractive as possible for customers.

As long ago as last February, the Zoutpansberger contacted the manager of this Build it franchise, Mr Aboo Akoo, for comment regarding the complaints. At that stage, he undertook to rectify the situation but, just over a year later, the problems seem to persists.

On Tuesday morning, three 30-ton trucks waiting to be off-loaded were parked in the street in front of the franchise, effectively turning Joubert Street between Kruger and President Street into a one-way street. At times the whole street was closed for traffic while the company’s little forklift scrambled to get the trucks off-loaded. The pile of building rubble was also still an eyesore spilling into the street.

The situation was reported to the Makhado Municipality once again, this time to Municipal Manager Sakkie Mutshinyali directly. It was obvious that Mr Mutshinyali had had enough. He said that the municipality had taken the matter up with the franchise on several occasions. “They just keep on ignoring us,” Mr Mutshinyali said. He indicated that he would send out his traffic officials to the premises immediately.

Sure enough, within half an hour traffic officials were at the scene and instructed the trucks to move out of the street. In a follow-up call to Mr Mutshinyali, thanking him for his quick response, Mr Mutshinyali added that he had given his traffic officials instruction to issue a final written warning to the management of the franchise. “If they do this again, they will be fined,” Mr Mutshinyali said. As for the franchise's using the municipal sidewalk as a dumping site, Mr Mutshinyali said that Build it would also have to adhere to the municipal by-laws in this regard.

Regrettably, an hour after they were instructed not to park in the street, the trucks were back and being off-loaded in the middle of the street once more. It is not known whether any fines have been issued against the franchise.

In conversation with Mr Mutshinyali, he indicated that heavy-vehicle traffic in town was costing the taxpayer millions every year because the town’s roads were never designed to handle this kind of traffic. Kruger Street, passing in front of the franchise, is a good example of the amount of damage done by heavy vehicles and buses traveling on a road not designed to carry such vehicles. The section of Kruger Street between Erasmus and Rissik is almost undriveable as a result of potholes - a problem area even before the recent heavy rains.

In response, the manager of the Build it franchise, Akoo later on Tuesday said he realizes that his stock on the municipal sidewalk is a problem. “In all honesty we are busy repaving the stock yard and that is the main reason why we had to move the stock outside,” Akoo said. He added that the project would take about two months to complete. In regard to the building rubble also on the sidewalk, which has been there for weeks, Akoo agreed that this is a problem. He, however, indicated that his TLB broke down and was due to be returned later that evening. “By tomorrow morning [Wednesday] the sidewalk would be cleared,” Akoo said. In the mean time he also added that he would appoint additional personnel to see to it that trucks waiting to off-load do not park in the street. He agreed that the current manner of off-loading is a problem. He also confirmed that they have indeed received a warning from the municipality.