Action needed to avert another eruption

Just more than a year after the mayhem that erupted in Korsten, sparked by an accident between a taxi driver and a foreigner, and fuelled by simmering tensions over the lack of service delivery and law enforcement, nothing much has changed.

The busy business area is still filthy, unsanitary, unregulated and a bubbling cauldron of frustration.

This despite the municipality’s promises to regulate the informal traders and stop more from setting up shop in the already overcrowded area.

The plan for a moratorium was mooted in August 2021 but never approved by the council.

It has since been brought back before the council.

Organised business has begged the municipality to enforce its bylaws in Durban Road, where the rules of the road and other laws are disregarded daily.

Proper policing, enforcing the regulations, ensuring traders have licences and regular spot checks are vital if we do not want the frustrations to spill over into violence again.

Proposals for the establishment of an informal traders’ association to regulate the traders date back to Athol Trollip and Danny Jordaan’s tenures as mayor.

But they are still just pie in the sky, despite a report by suspended economic development executive director Anele Qaba acknowledging the Korsten hub as a major drawcard for informal traders and stressing the need for intervention.

The municipality cannot afford to keep turning a blind eye to the problems bedevilling this bustling marketplace.

Korsten Traders Forum member Ashraf Limbada is correct in saying this would never have been allowed to happen in areas such as Humewood or Summerstrand.

“Korsten has a huge potential to be a great marketplace if only the filth and lawlessness can be eradicated,” he says.

“This needs only the municipality — it is not a political issue, it is an administrative issue.

“They [metro] have made the announcement of plans, which is fine, but what are they doing to action them?

“Send at least a patrol officer and then you can work on your planning.”

Limbada is spot on. The time for talk is over. It is now time for action.

Putting on a show of force, followed by empty promises, after tensions explode and violence erupts is just that — a show.

If the municipality is sincere about addressing the lawlessness and filth, it must act now.

Where are the traffic officers and metro police? 

They need to be seen in the area daily, enforcing the rules of the road and checking that the bylaws are being adhered to.

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