The City of Johannesburg and the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) have to renegotiate the matter concerning the removal of some informal traders.
This follows an urgent application brought by SERI over the removal of illegal informal traders, in De Villiers, Noord and Plein Streets.
Speaking to a crowd after the Court hearing on Friday, Dada Morero, the Executive Mayor of Joburg, said the crux of the matter is the criteria for trading in the City, which requires South African citizenship.
For this reason, the Judge said the two should return for a further discussion, on Monday morning at 10am.
“We want our City to be clean and to also support small business properly, by developing programs to advance them, but we will not be disrespected in our own City” said Morero.
Edward Molopi, Spokesperson of SERI, said today was the first time the organisation and the City actually spoke about the matter.
He also said the eviction process was not fair and sound.
In addition, he said the newly introduced “first come, first serve” system in the allocation of stands, disregarded all other processes, leaving people who had traded in that area for years, out in the cold.
“They approached SERI because they believe their rights were trampled on. It is on that basis that the matter was taken up so urgently” said Molopi.
Last week, it emerged that since the removal of informal traders, crime stats decreased in that specific area of the inner City.
Moreover, City Parks is also expected to plant trees there, while Joburg Water, will fix pipes and the pavement.
Morero also said a full scale clean up campaign would be launched in November 2025.