Businesses shut down in Mitchells Plain
Fifteen businesses were forced to close their doors after a Mitchells Plain complex was deemed a health and safety risk.
|||Cape Town - Fifteen Mitchells Plain businesses based at a business complex were forced to close their doors indefinitely after city officials arrived to shut them down.
The Colorado City Centre business owners are angry after the centre was deemed a health and safety risk.
Law enforcement spokesman Wayne Dyason confirmed that law enforcement members were dispatched to the centre last week.
“Law enforcement assisted with the closure of the Colorado Complex on Wednesday. The assistance was requested from us and the platoon commander at the Fire and Rescue Department.”
It is alleged that the city centre in Mitchells Plain was behind on its municipal bills and tenants were illegally wiring electricity connections.
Over the weekend, tenants told the Cape Argus they were fed up and wanted answers from the landlord and the city.
Joey Wilson, of Joey’s Hair Salon, said she was contacted while making a hospital visit.
“They told me that police were here and that I needed to come back urgently.”
Wilson said when she arrived law enforcement officers were armed and handed her a note.
They told her she needed to close the business immediately and if she didn’t, they would issue her with a R10 000 fine.
Normally, Wilson makes between R1 500 and R1 800 a day.
She has five staffers working at her business which operates daily. She has occupied the space for six years.
“The way they went about it wasn’t legal. We never received a notice about problems. And if they did have problems with individual businesses, why did they not deal with them individually?”
Wilson said she was losing business and feared that she would lose her clientele as well.
“At the end of the day I still have salaries to pay.”
An employee at Joey’s Hair Salon, Anthea Fillies, said she was worried about the indefinite closure.
“I don’t know if this could be the end of my job and if so how am I going to pay for my child’s food, school and rent?”
A furniture shop owner, Naeem Gool, said that he was worried about customer orders.
“My rent and electricity bills are up to date. This is sad because my phone is ringing non-stop; customers want their goods.”
Shireen Mukuddem, of the Las Vegas Café, said she was paying R18 000 in rent, which included the electricity bill.
“I need to work in order to be able to pay the rent money.”
A resident who supported the tenants, Frank Fredericks, said residents had a good relationship with the business operators at the complex.
“We are on first-name basis with these business owners. They procure all our services from here.”
Fredericks called for the city centre to reopen the complex.
“If shops in the city centre close for a day it becomes a gang-infested drug den with prostitution and vandals.”
Landlord and owner of the Colorado City Centre, Hassen Tayob, said the business owners “brought the problem onto themselves”.
He said they had been failing to pay their electricity bills and were illegally connecting electricity lines.
“They don’t want to work together. Some don’t pay rent for up to seven months and then they complain.
Tayob said he was busy “sorting out the problem”.
zodidi.dano@inl.co.za
Cape Argus