Have your say on mobile trading spots
The public has until Wednesday, October 16 to comment on the City’s draft mobile business policy, and changes to the Informal Trading By-law.
The City has suggested 142 proposed mobile business trading areas in Cape Town, saying it is an attempt to support sustainable development in different business sectors.
Comments can be submitted online, by email at Mobile.BusinessPolicy@capetown.gov.za or in person at the sub-council offices.
The proposed areas for the far south include the viewpoint at the top of Muizenberg Park and one in Camp Road, which is adjacent to the park.
In Kalk Bay, the parking lot opposite the Holy Trinity Church has been identified as one location, and the southern sidewalk on Kalk Bay Main Road, north east of Woolley’s tidal pool and between the New Quarry Road substation to the east and public seating to the west, as another.
On Fish Hoek Beach, it is suggested that one be placed past the lifesaving clubhouse and another in front of the Law Enforcement office, off Peter Creese Way.
And in Glencairn and Simon’s Town, the Glencairn Beach parking lot, and the Long Beach parking lot, off Main Road, Simon’s Town, have been suggested.
Mayoral committee member for economic growth James Vos said mobile businesses such as food trucks, barber shops, and clothing shops had become increasingly popular, and the City wanted to make it easier for them to operate.
Ward councillor Izabel Sherry said the difference between mobile business traders and informal traders was that mobile businesses were considered fully fledged businesses.
The mobile businesses, she said, would be expected to conduct themselves like all formal businesses. They would need to register themselves, get certified to sell food and provide any other compliance certificates and documents such as tax certificates.
Those requirements, she said, were not necessary when applying to be an informal trader.
The Fish Hoek beachfront site has gotten a thumbs up from Fish Hoek Valley Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association chairman Peter Feasey who said the association supported the locations chosen for the mobile traders but opposed any exclusive trading rights on the beach that might be granted to other leaseholders.
Muizenberg Improvement District (MID) chairman Simon Roberts said they welcomed the additional locations and hoped they many more well-located spots would be found to provide business and employment opportunities.
He added that the MID hoped the trading areas would add to the sense of place and provide nice options to pedestrians exploring Muizenberg.
The City will hold a public meeting at the Fish Hoek civic centre on Wednesday October 2, from 2pm till 6pm, to discuss the proposed mobile business trading areas.
