ANGRY VENDORS DEMAND EXPLANATION FOR 77% RENTAL HIKE

The Manzini street vendors picketing outside the Mu-nicipal Council of Manzini offices as they waited to deliver their co-mplaints to management.

MANZINI – About 300 street vendors yesterday stormed the Municipal Council of Manzini offices, demanding an explanation on the 77 per cent hike in rental fees for their stalls.

This took place yesterday morning, where the street vendors from the city left their stalls and marched to the municipality offices to seek answers on what criteria was used to reach a decision to increase rental fees from E35 per month to E150. The increment is supposed to be effective as from April 1, 2017.

At the municipality offices, the vendors had a meeting with the Mayor, Khethokuhle Dlamini and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lungile Dlamini, among other senior staff members, including some councillors.
The vendors said they were tipped about the latest development by a concerned Member of Parliament (MP). They said the MP told them that the municipality had filed a proposal in Parliament where they were proposing to increase their rent from E35 to E150 per month.

They demanded to know what was it that the municipality did for them that could force it to propose such an incredible rental hike.
“We do not have shelter over our stalls, we use our own umbrellas. We do not have water; instead we buy it in order to wash the fruits and vegetables we sell. We also pay E0.50 when we want to use the toilets,” the vendors said.

They said they were failing to understand why the council wanted to impose the increase.
“How much do we get from selling ice water for E0.50 and tomatoes for E2? Does the council really want to take all what we get through rentals?” asked some of the vendors during the meeting.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: