Battle between CoJ, Hawkers over trading rights to continue in court

The legal battle between the City of Johannesburg and hawkers over trading rights is set to continue in court on Monday morning.

Last week, the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) dragged the city to court to challenge the removal of informal traders in the Johannesburg CBD.

ALSO READ: Informal traders fight for livelihoods as Joburg cracks down on CBD businesses

SERI, which is representing the informal traders, has argued that the removals are a violation of the hawkers’ right to trade.

But the city said that the removal of informal traders operating in undesignated areas and without municipal approval is part of efforts to clean up the inner city.

Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero said unregulated trading activities have contributed to escalating lawlessness, urban decay, and put further strain on already compromised infrastructure in the inner city.

“Our project is not against anyone; we are implementing the bylaws of the city to ensure that whoever is in the city trades in the right spaces as regulated and takes care of the environment.”

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