Durban - Furious stallholders at the Fragrance Street Market in Chatsworth have turned on one of their own, accusing a fruit and vegetable seller of sub-letting her business to a wholesaler, causing them to run at a loss.
Emotions ran high and a fight almost broke out on Monday.
The owner of Nitai’s Fruit & Veg stall, Hazel Ramlutch, is being accused by traders of sub-letting her stall, which was shut down by the city on Monday.
Ramlutch, who denies the claim, was unable to challenge the council’s decision as she had to be at her father’s side - he is apparently critically ill and on his death-bed.
Her husband Ramesh told POST that the stall’s gates had been closed and he was told he would not be able to operate until his wife met the council.
He added this would affect their day-to-day living.
“My wife is under an immense amount of stress as her parents were both ill and her father is in a critical condition in hospital.
"The council just closed our shop without having done any investigations or having met with my wife to discuss the matter,” he said.
Ramlutch, who arrived at the market a short while later, had approached the Fragrance Street Committee members to find out why was her shop was closed and asked them if they were aware that her father was on his death-bed.
The frantic woman said a city official had called her to a meeting and she had explained her situation to him, but her shop was still closed.
“I told him that I could not meet him as I was in hospital and that my dad was critical and may not make it.
"Could we postpone the meeting? But he did not say anything. Shortly afterwards, I received a call from my husband saying that the stall had been closed and they were
told they could not trade.
“How can they shut my stall so easily? I have been operating from the market for the past decade,” she said.
“Right now we need the income. What if there is an emergency at home, where
am I going to get money from?”
The acting chairperson of the Fragrance Street committee, Michelle Thirumani, told POST it was the city that decided to close the stall.
“The committee was approached by the traders with the allegations that one of the traders was sub-letting her stall to a wholesaler, which is not allowed at the market. The committee’s duty is to take the traders’ grievances to the council body, which make the decisions,” she said.
Emanual Dlamini, a fruit and vegetable trader at the market for the past 14 years, said they had approached
the committee for help after witnessing someone else
trading from Ramlutch’s stall.
“We would see someone else coming to the stall to collect money and they would bring in stock and leave their workers, but the owner of the store was not around. We approached the committee to take the matter to council to be investigated,” he said.
“Sub-letting is not allowed and the only way we would be able to compete with wholesalers is if we did not pay rent then we could compete with their prices.”
The Market Users Committee, which represents traders from markets across eThekwini, said they wanted the municipality to manage the Fragrance Street Market as they are mandated to in accordance with market by-laws.
“These by-laws for retail markets guide the actions
and activities of these markets. This is not the case
here at Fragrance market.
We have plenty evidence to prove these unlawful occurrences,” said MUC secretary, Verushka Memdutt.
“When the city deploys managers to these facilities, these managers are mandated to fulfil their duties without prejudice or favour.
"Right now, we have a serious violation of constitutional and municipal rights by the traders and the management deployed by the Business Support Unit. To us it is clear that they have not followed procedure and despite a plea they continue to stop traders from earning a living.
“We as a civil society cannot allow the rights of the most vulnerable members of society violated to this extent,” she said.
The chairperson of Chatsworth Poverty Alleviation, Dinesh Dhyanand, said the municipality needed to be unbiased when making decisions pertaining to traders.
“We will support the rights for the traders to be treated fairly and in a just manner for a positive outcome that will benefit the traders.
"It would also be good to see the municipality, in conjunction with the MUC, come to a positive decision in combating the irregularities that is now plaguing this facility,” he said.
“This is not just a place of selling products and produce but a place where people come to earn a living. To some this is their only source of income and every cent generated is a cent closer to them meeting their daily needs.”