A group of Bonteheuwel informal traders are upset because no toilets have been included in the R14 million upgrade of their business centre.
The CBD revamp, primarily for the use of the 55 traders, is currently underway in the area.
Trevor Marman, chairperson of the informal traders, said traders agreed that they won’t move in until they get toilets.
“Everybody agreed and everybody voted in favour that we will wait until we get our toilet.”
“I approached the councillor about the toilet and water facility for fish vendors, which will only be done in the next budget,” Marman added.
He said the CBD previously had a single public toilet but it was vandalised.
Theresa Uys, the City’s acting committee member for Spatial Planning and Environment, explained that provision has been made for ablution facilities as a further phase of the upgrading project.
“The detailed design and costing will be complete by December and will be submitted for building plan approval and preparation for construction commencement which is expected to be in the second half of 2024,” Uys confirmed.
She added that when Area North took over the project from Area Central, there was not even provision for ablution facilities.
“Upon questioning this, we were advised that provision could still be made for an ablution block but would obviously be delayed due to the late start,” Uys said.
“The main challenge was around management and maintenance of the ablutions, which AED eventually agreed to be responsible for vs no ablutions at all.”
But, Moegsien Mitchell, who trades with second-hand tools, claims that this has been a major flop on the City’s side, as toilets should have been on the building plans from the beginning.
“It’s sad indeed. This is supposed to be an upgrade project but how can authorities treat us like that? Surely the architect could not have missed it on the plan,” he said.