“This is sad because these people are incompetent. Some food shacks have been closed down because customers cannot tolerate the smell of garbage that is being dumped near the shacks, meaning the owners have lost business while some are forced to sell liquor without licenses because it seems that is the only commodity that customers manage to take even in that condition,” he argued.

However, the chairperson of the Street Vendors Executive Committee, Mr. Molefi Paneng, rubbished the allegations, saying “MCC held a workshop for street vendors in October, basically about the tender and how we were expected to deliver. After that the MCC awarded a tender to some of us who are executing the task at the moment.” He argued: “It is not possible that all vendors could work at the same time, but they will be taken in groups to allow everybody to have a chance and get a share of the money that is being paid by the MCC.”

Mr Paneng explained that the street vendors failed to use the opportunity to voice their opinions on how the tender should be handled even though they were given a fair opportunity to do so. “Instead they insisted on demanding terms and conditions of the tender. This was until things had to move forward. There was no corruption whatsoever.” According to Mrs. Makatleho Mosala, MCC Public Relations Officer (PRO), the municipality introduced the concept of issuing the job to the street vendors instead of the usual cleaning companies as a new strategy and had informed the vendor’s committee about it.

“After the sensitisation process, we went on with the awarding of the tender to different associations derived from transport operators and street vendors based at the bus-stop area and those working along the nearby streets,” she explained. She said the purpose is for the relevant associations to alternate according to the master list that was drawn by the vendors. “It is surprising that they are accusing MCC of corruption when they know exactly that it is not true.”
Lena