Informal traders turned away, told to wait for Joburg officials for permits
The City of Johannesburg has urged informal traders to hang tight while city officials reach out to those who qualify for trading permits during the 21-day national lockdown.
The city had had to temporarily suspend the issuing of permits to informal traders after high volumes of traders showed up at their offices on Tuesday, causing a health scare amid the outbreak of novel-coronavirus.
The city’s spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane says at least another 600 permits must still be issued to informal traders.
“Following the first down, which went down very smoothly, the second day a lot of people came in, even those who do not qualify for permits and then there was a stampede and there was issues of concerns about safety, issues about non-observation of social distancing.
“We had to make a call and make a decision because COVID-19 is a very serious issue.”
Modingoane adds: “The people that are going to be issued permits are known by the city, they are people that are on the database of the city and in terms the database the people that are eligible for these permits are around 1600 and by Monday we had already issued over 1000 of those.”
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Subsequently the city says it will contact the outstanding trade and have them collect at the regional offices instead.
“People will be contacted directly, and they will be notified exactly where they can get their permits.”
Modingoane also says informal traders that are not already registered with the city will have to wait until after the lockdown.
Last week the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs gave hawkers the green light to trade during the 21-day national lockdown.
Modingoane explains: