Johannesburg - What was supposed to be a major crackdown on Thursday by the Joburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) and emergency management services (EMS) on the sale of illegal fireworks fizzled out.
And after deploying 12 vehicles and almost 40 JMPD and EMS officers, 33 boxes of firecrackers were recovered and two fines were issued.
A visit to four merchants in Bruma and Cyrildene revealed that all had valid permits, while two were fined for storing the fireworks incorrectly.
The raid was supposed to take place in the Joburg CBD but was moved to Bruma and Cyrildene after a major water leak in Bree Street.
The vehicles descended on the old Bruma Oriental City and were joined by several police officers with rifles.
In the first store, officers were welcomed by friendly owners who had their permits prominently displayed.
@IOL @CityofJoburgZA #JMPDfireworks Owners get irate at confiscation pic.twitter.com/pb8UhUELn6
— anna cox (@annacox) December 29, 2016
The second had fireworks stacked on the floor, which is illegal in terms of the by-laws. Officers removed several boxes while the owner argued that the stock had arrived only on Thursday morning.
JMPD chief superintendent Wayne Minnaar told the officers to return most of the boxes. “His story could be true, but we kept 31 boxes of fireworks which were in display boxes protected only by a thin film of plastic. This is not legal. The owner will have to pay R2650 in impound fees to get the crackers returned,” he said.
The third store, in the new Oriental City Lifestyle Centre, was also compliant except for two boxes confiscated because they were illegally stored. The owner will have to pay R5000 to retrieve them.
The fourth store was a supermarket in Cyrildene.
The owner did not even blink when uniformed officers marched in. He greeted them and carried on with what he was doing while officers examined where the fireworks were stored, which they found to be in order.
“We have to conduct these raids as fireworks are very dangerous if not stored correctly. All you need is a cigarette thrown casually on to the floor which will ignite one box and the whole centre could burn,” said Minnaar, adding that follow-up inspections would be done.
@annacox