Category Archives: Warwick Junction

Mercury: Warwick mall plan is bad news for informal traders

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http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5001111

Warwick mall plan is bad news for informal traders

May 27, 2009 Edition 1

MANY informal traders and other citizens of Durban have sent a strong message to the city council that they are not happy with the strip mall proposed for our primary transport hub – the Warwick Junction.

At a public meeting last Wednesday, more than 600 participants sang protest songs voicing discontent. Yesterday, protesters demanded the municipality “find somewhere else to build their mall”.

The site for the new mall was initially over the railway lines adjacent to Berea Station. Without any explanation, the site was switched to the Early Morning Market. This fresh produce market was established in 1910, and is a listed building.

The market has 673 trading sites, and over 50 market gardeners sell their produce there. These traders supply other informal traders throughout the city, and are thus an important part of the city-wide fresh produce distribution chain.

By month’s end, the council threatens to move the traders to temporary accommodation, and there is no information about where they might be accommodated in the longer term. The new site is out of the way and has no facilities. There is space for only 170 traders. Accordingly, the traders have resolved that they will not budge.

On a busy day, it is estimated that as many as 8 000 street and market traders operate out of Warwick. There are many others working to support this trade, such as barrow operators and suppliers of tables, paraffin and shopping bags.

Our research shows that earnings from these very small businesses support large numbers of households located in poorer parts of the city.

Plight

In addition to concern for the particular plight of the market traders, there are a number of issues that as citizens of Durban we should be raising about both the content and process of these plans.

The council claims the redevelopment will affect only the market traders and the 185 traders who work directly around the proposed site.

But any trader, formal or informal, will tell you that their business depends on passing feet. The proposals will result in the redesign of the area, ensuring that the current foot traffic, estimated at 460 000 commuters a day, is directed past the formal traders rather than the informal ones. This will seriously impact on the viability of all street and market traders in the Junction.

In addition, the new development will introduce 30 000m2 of formal shops, including a large supermarket chain. The informal traders are unlikely to be able to compete with these formal retailers.

In 1997, the city established the Warwick Junction Urban Renewal Project. This area-based management initiative has become a model of how to manage, support and provide infrastructure for street traders.

It is this track record of inclusive planning that has previously helped give substance to the eThekwini Municipality’s aspiration to be “Africa’s most caring and liveable city”.

The council had a track record of continuous negotiations with traders in this area. And yet, in this case, the first consultation about this new mall was held on February 18, even though construction is meant to commence in early June. Traders said they were not consulted, but instead were presented with a fait accompli.

There are a number of other problems with this process. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) that was done was for the site over the railway lines. No new EIA has been conducted, despite the fact that the site has changed. The original EIA, in fact, outlines the importance of the market to the city.

There was no call by the council for expressions of interest when this valuable public land was to be released, nor was there a public tendering process. Also, no existing traders are included in the share ownership of the black economic empowerment consortium driving this development.

The first designs of the proposed new mall omitted to include any traders. Durban’s central business district was in fact to be transformed into a sanitised, American-style inner city.

Inappropriate

The more recent architectural drawings do pay lip service to integrating traders. The design, however, is essentially an enclosed box with blank facades. Local architects describe this as “inappropriate form”, contributing nothing to the streetscape.

All agree that there is a need for continual investment into this district. Over the past decade, the council demonstrated its commitment to continuous upgrading in the Warwick area, with the traders and commuters at the heart of decision-making.

The proposed allocation of an additional R100 million of funds in support of development in the area is positive. But it should surely not be used to subsidise the narrow interests of large formal businesses.

In cities the world over, markets are celebrated as an integral element of the urban fabric. In Durban, we have a market that continues to play a critical role at the core of the lives of the majority of Durban’s residents. Supplanting the market with a publicly subsidised retail mall will only serve to further marginalise the urban poor.

Deputy mayor Logie Naidoo claims that a win-win solution is possible. However, the content and process of the current proposals are fundamentally flawed. No one will win if, in our vision for Durban, the interests of the majority of poorer citizens do not feature.

Street Traders Threatend with Eviction for New Mall in Warwick Junction

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Street Traders Threatend with Eviction for New Mall in Warwick Junction

A presentation to a public meeting by Caroline Skinner

Warm greetings to all, Sanibonani

In the light of a number of years of research in Warwick, there are four key concerns I want to raise both about the content and process of the current proposals for a shopping mall development Warwick.

1. The first issue is the number of livelihoods that will be affected.

On a busy day we estimate that there are 8000 street and market traders that operate out of Warwick. The city claims that the redevelopment will only affect the 670 Early Morning Market traders and the 185 traders working around the proposed site.

I would dispute this. As all the traders here will tell you, their business depends on passing feet. The proposals will result in the redesign of the area ensuring that the current foot traffic (estimated to be 460 000 commuters a day) is directed past the formal rather than the informal traders. This will seriously impact on the viability of all street traders in the area.

In addition the redevelopment will introduce many formal shops – Spar, Jet, Foshini, Truworths among others into the area. The informal traders are unlikely to be able to compete with these formal retailers. There is a history of formal business using their economic muscle to out compete the informal traders.

2. The second issue is that street traders are supporting large numbers of dependents located in poorer parts of the city

Our research shows that for every trader on the street there are between 6 and 25 people depending on their income. Unlike the profits of the large formal retailers which go directly to Gauteng, the profits from these very small businesses support large numbers of households located in poorer parts of the city.

3. The third issue is the particular plight of the EMM traders

The site for the first phase of the Mall development is the Early Morning Market. Fresh produce has been sold in this area for over a century. This market was established in 1910 and is a listed building. There are 673 sites there and over 50 market gardeners who sell their goods from here. By month end all these traders will be moved to temporary accommodation without any knowledge of where, and if, they will be accommodated in the long term. The new site is out of the way and has no facilities. It has enough space for 170 traders.

4. The forth issue is that the current proposal threatens an international best practice of street trader management and support.

In 1997 the city established the Warwick Junction Urban Renewal Project. This area based management initiative of the city council has become a model of how to manage, support and provide infrastructure for street traders. Over the years the project has received a number of awards most recently in 2008 the UN Habitat / Dubai International Award for Good Practice.

At School of Development Studies over the last two years we have been carefully documenting the lessons learned from this project. A key finding is the value of the cities approach to consultation in the area. One trader leader described this as follows:

The city afforded informal traders the opportunity to participate on a sustained and continuous basis in negotiations about their needs.’

The City held its first consultation about this new Mall on February 18, 2009 and plans to start construction in early June. Since February there have been a few smaller workshops. In all of these the City has presented the proposals. Although there has been time for questions, many of these have been left unanswered. Traders have said that they are not being consulted but presented something that has already been decided – a fait accompli.

* Why has the city changed its approach to consultation particularly given the history in this area?
* Why was there no call for expressions of interest when the city considered releasing this land? Why was there no tendering process?
* Warwick Mall Pty limited is a black economic empowerment consortium. Existing traders are glaringly absent. Why are the traders not included as part of the share ownership?

This is not to say that the area is not in need of an upgrade, but that the content and process of the current proposals are flawed. Warwick Junction is significant to the city as a whole. It is part of what makes Durban unique. This is not just about street trader livelihoods it is about the vision we have for our city. Durban has prided itself as an inclusive city and we call on the councilors and city officials to continue this.

Mercury: Anger over R400m mall plan

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http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4990904

6 000 WARWICK JUNCTION INFORMAL TRADERS AFFECTED
Anger over R400m mall plan

May 21, 2009 Edition 1

Lyse Comins

TENSIONS heightened yesterday over the effects of a proposed R400 million shopping mall in Durban’s bustling Warwick Junction, as city officials and academics met representatives of 6 000 angry informal traders.

The traders, who fear the development will destroy their businesses, threatened to march to the city hall next Tuesday to protest against the development and what they say is a lack of consultation with traders and a “failure to follow the tender process”.

An intense two-hour debate was hosted by the Democracy Development Programme in a packed Durban University of Technology’s city campus hall.

Attended by about 600 informal traders, University of KwaZulu-Natal development studies unit researcher Caroline Skinner, Deputy Mayor Logie Naidoo, and Professor Rodney Harber of UKZN’s department of architecture, the debate was vigorous and marked by angry outbursts and singing. Representatives from the private developer, Warwick Wall Consortium, were not present.

Naidoo explained the aim of the development was to upgrade and rejuvenate an area affected by urban decay. The city was investing R100 million towards the first phase of the development, which had to be completed by June 1 next year in time for 2010 World Cup. The development includes road and freeway realignments, a more logical positioning of taxi ranks and the creation of a mall with banking and retail facilities.

However, informal traders blew on vuvuzelas and stood to dance and shout slogans in isiZulu like “down with capitalism” and “leave the poor alone” to express their anger and discontent at Naidoo’s official response to their concerns.

International street traders’ organisation StreetNet was present with 25 international delegates from Malawi, Zimbabwe, Niger, Uganda, Nepal and the United states.

Warwick Market Traders Association chairman Harry Ramlall and Warwick Precinct Plan Stakeholders Forum chairman Roothren Moodley represented informal traders.

Ramlall said traders had not been consulted about the development, which would ruin their livelihood if they were forced out of the area.

Traders have been given notice to vacate the Early Morning Market and move to a building in Alice Street by May 31.

Naidoo said almost 500 000 commuters travelled daily through the junction, generating an estimated R1 billion in revenue for the mix of formal and informal traders. However, informal traders fear the mall has been designed to redirect commuters’ foot traffic away from their stalls and into the shopping mall and that there will be no space for them despite the city’s repeated promises to include them.

Ramlall said the city had presented the development plan to traders as a fait accompli at a meeting on February 18.

“We were told there would be workshops telling us exactly what is going on but all we had was a meeting with city manager Michael Sutcliffe where we were only asked, what are our requirements,” he said.

“It was presented to us as a proposal but we could read between the lines it was not a proposal; it was presented as what we are going to do – close the market and shut it down and relocate us to the materials management building. But there was no viability study done,” Ramlall said.

An unidentified trader asked, to loud applause by participants, why a “first world” mall was being imposed on “third world people” who do not care to visit malls like the Pavilion and Gateway.

“We have approximately eight malls within a 10km radius around the city; why put up another mall?” asked Ramlall.

He said traders were not against the development but they want to be incorporated into a new development.

Cosatu representative Mthokozisi Khuboni announced that informal traders, dissatisfied with the city’s response, would stage a protest march to the city hall next Tuesday.

Mercury: Traders feel threatened by development

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http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4988935

Traders feel threatened by development

May 20, 2009 Edition 1

Lyse Comins

Inanda woman Ntombikayise Gagayi, 44, works diligently in her makeshift kitchen in Durban’s bustling Warwick Junction, where she cooks bovine heads for a living.

These she sells to her customers – a fraction of the estimated 460 000 commuters that travel daily through this busy intersection of traffic, train station, taxi ranks and bus terminals.

Gagayi, whose husband was killed in political violence in the early 1990s, depends on this passing trade to support her 10 children. She is one of 30 widows who sell bovine heads and other plated food at the junction’s open-air food stalls.

The women traders are among an estimated 6 000 people who depend on Warwick Junction’s brisk informal trade, which filters desperately needed income to townships and far-flung, poverty-stricken rural areas such as Umkomaas, Ndwedwe and Inanda.

In communities hard-hit by HIV/Aids, traders’ daily takings support up to 25 people. About 460 000 commuters travel daily through the area generating R1 billion in turnover for the existing mix of formal and informal traders.

But now traders fear that the eThekwini Municipality and Umhlanga-based developer, Isolenu, which forms part of the Warwick Mall consortium that is behind the proposed new R400 million shopping mall, will devastate their businesses by redirecting commuters to the mall, away from their street stalls, which will be moved to designated areas.

Bovine-head cookers like Gagayi will be moved to the nearby English Market to make way for the mall’s franchised fast-food court. And 673 traders in the early morning market building, the proposed site of the mall, have been notified to vacate by May 31.

The development includes a 30 000 square metre mall and taxi rank on the building’s top level to cater for south-bound taxis. The mall will be linked by walkways and bridges to the train station and bus rank and to redeveloped ranks for west-and north-bound taxis. The new freeway flyovers are already under construction and the new taxi rank are planned for completion in 2010.

Isolenu Group Holdings CEO Carlos Correia said he was surprised by traders’ fears and defended the development, saying it would incorporate informal traders and create 680 permanent jobs and a number of part-time jobs.

He said Spar would be the anchor tenant with a 70% national profile of tenants including FNB, Nedbank, Standard Bank, Jet, Foschini, Truworths, African Bank, the Post Office, Eskom Financial Services and several fast-food outlets.

However, the development in its present form has been widely opposed by informal traders’ associations who claim the city has sidelined them, while NGOs and the KwaZulu-Natal Institute of Architects have also opposed it.

In formal comments, the development proposal process has been labelled “flawed” and lacking due process regarding tendering and public consultation with traders and ratepayers. Richard Dobson of NGO Asiye Tafuleni said the development had been presented to traders as a fait accompli on February 18 without any real interaction.

KZN Institute of Architects’ president Miles Pennington said: “We consider the process flawed owing to the lack of any recognition of the strategic plan for the area, adherence to this plan, public consultation with current users of the site, local developers and ratepayers, due process in respect of procuring tenders for projects such as these, poor conceptualisation of the project… We believe this has been exacerbated by the need to complete the project in a timeframe that cannot be realistically met.

“We consider the ‘deal’ to be financially prejudicial to ratepayers, who are funding a significant proportion. This comment is made given the lack of sufficient evidence to the contrary. We would like to see a detailed viability study,” Pennington said.

The eThekweni Municipality Strategic Projects Unit and 2010 Programme head, Julie-May Ellingson, and city manager Michael Sutcliffe declined to comment.

“We remain involved in discussions on this matter as per council’s resolutions with directly concerned parties and I do not think it appropriate to comment on hearsay and opinions through the media,” Sutcliffe said.

However, Correira said the consortium had air rights for the space connecting the market with the train station, which was why the city had started talking to his company about developing the mall.

“We have all our EIA approvals which date back to 2007. We were going to develop the station first with retail outlets. I can only assume the city followed all its council processes. It went to the city in September last year where there was a council resolution taken and in February the process of the Municipal Financial Act was met.

“There were various objections and at the end of April we were informed that we can carry on with our development,” Correia said.

Warwick Market Traders’ Association chairman Harry Ramlall, a third-generation trader in the listed 99-year-old Early Morning Market building, said traders had reported the matter to Amafa and were seeking legal advice regarding their proposed move to a building in nearby Alice street.

“We have been here for 99 years. Some of us are fourth-generation traders. They want to relocate us to the materials management building but my concern is we don’t even know if it is a viable proposition.

“We need to go to a place where we can do business. The building has been lying vacant for a number of years and there are no people moving through there. If something goes wrong someone has to be held accountable,” Ramlall said.

Apart from loss of trade, Ramlall said he feared not all traders, who directly and indirectly employed about 3 000 people and 500 barrow pushers who take produce to street traders, would be accommodated at the new site.

However, Correia said he believed the traders had been consulted. “We are surprised to hear these kinds of comments. They (traders) seemed to take a strong view to keep the market, but the city had strong views that the market has been problematic for many years with rental issues and with conditions people are trading in,” Correira said.

Jabulani Ntsele chairman of the Eye Traders’ Association, Sisonke Alliance, said traders were concerned that traders consulting with the city had been coerced by promises of small tenders to accept the development and were not representing the community’s interests. He said traders had asked Cosatu and the South African Communist Party to assist and were planning a protest march.

“There is a big clash and the traders are going to start rising up because they are scared they are going to lose their jobs. They are destroying the livelihood of the people.

“Even to say people will get places to trade inside… we have never seen any mall where street traders are allowed to trade inside or outside, and we don’t have any agreement on paper to say that we can trade in the mall,” Ntsele said.

Correia said in terms of the council’s decision the developer had to accommodate 150 street traders in a new public square at its own cost and another 130 traders with permits would be moved at the city’s expense. He said various consultations had taken place. “We met every condition of the city. We have to provide lock-up areas and lighting for them. Regarding the bovine cookers my understanding is there is a big health issue with where they are now,” Correia said.

Ngoneni Khawula, 62, who represents vegetable sellers and food cookers like Gagayi, said the wrangle was heartbreaking.

“It’s our only source of income and the majority of traders are elderly women and widows. It’s like we are being thrown into the middle of a thick bush where there is no passing trade,” Khawula said.

UKZN School of Development Studies researcher Caroline Skinner called the wrangle between informal traders, the city and its developers as a battle for business between the formal economy, which would take profits out of the local economy, and the informal economy, which provides an income for KwaZulu-Natal’s poorest people.

Meanwhile, the Democracy Development Programme will be hosting a public discussion to debate the development and provide a platform for traders and the public to air their views. The meeting is taking place at the Durban University of Technology’s city campus at noon today.