Informal traders have been illegally making use of the parking bays behind OK Mini-market in Summer Greens to sell fruit and vegetables.
Summer Greens Neighbourhood Watch chairman, Reagan Croeser, noted around five traders there and said informal trading was not allowed as Summer Greens was not zoned for it.
“They are selling fruit and vegetables from the boots of their cars. School Street is a small street and it looks terrible with the mess they make,” said Mr Croeser.
He said the City of Cape Town had issued permits to a few traders in Summer Greens at the start of lockdown to provide a “drop-off” in the area.
“They were allowed to drop off goods at homes when people were more restricted during the higher lockdown levels but at no time were they allowed to trade in School Street,” he said.
A resident who lives in School Street, who did not want to be named, started noticing the traders a few weeks ago.
“They are busy until after 6pm and they’re noisy,” said the resident.
Mayco member for urban management, Grant Twigg, said there was a proposed trading plan for Summer Greens but that it had not yet been finalised with the community, pending public consultation.
“Summer Greens is part of the Blouberg informal trading gazette but currently does not have any approved informal trading bays.
“The City was in the process of developing an informal trading plan for Summer Greens and one consultation session took place with the community prior to the lockdown, however, no decision was taken on the day and the consultation was postponed,” said Mr Twigg.
Covid-19 permits were issued to some traders who sell fruit and vegetables in Summer Greens during the lockdown, said Mr Twigg.
About six of these permits were issued to sell fruit and vegetables in Summer Greens.
“Under alert level 5 and 4 regulations, municipalities were allowed to issue permits to spaza shops and informal traders, hence permits would have been issued to these residents who applied to sell fruit and vegetables from their own homes.
“Some informal traders who were desperate to sustain their livelihoods when the pandemic was declared a national disaster and who had no form of income, applied for Covid-19 informal trading permits that were being issued by the City in line with the lockdown regulations.
“These residents/traders applied to sell fruit and vegetables in Summer Greens and were issued with Covid-19 permits accordingly,” he said.
He added if traders were trading illegally, law enforcement could, upon site inspection, issue fines in cases of non-compliance.