Angry traders took to the streets of Parow on Thursday to demand police take action against druggies, prossies and skelms in Station Road.
The group of about 50 vendors closed their stalls for the day and marched through the streets with placards and blowing whistles.
Jamiela Moodley, chairperson of the Station Road Arcade Traders Association, says they have had enough of criminal activities which she says scares off shoppers, causing them to lose business.
Moodley, 60, has been running a clothing stall for 20 years but says in recent years the area has been overrun by prostitutes and drug dealers who do their business in full view of shoppers.
“It has really gotten bad and the police are doing nothing. We have more than 200 traders who are working to feed their families, but we can’t even trade because the customers are scared of the criminals,” she says.
DISSATISFIED: Jamiela Moodley, chair of traders association
Moodley says drugs are easily available and some traders have even started selling drugs for dealers.
“One of our own traders got involved with drug peddling, but he was caught out and there is a police case. This is how terrible our situation is,” she says.
“Whenever we contact police, we are told there are no resources, but just look at how many vans they can send when we want to march.”
Target
In their memorandum, the angry group calls for action from Parow police: “We cannot allow these gangsters to take control of our daily lives. On a Friday afternoon after 4pm, when business starts to thrive, that’s when the action starts with these thugs.”
It further states that robbers are known to target customers on Saturdays.
Traffic along Voortrekker Road moved slowly yesterday as the group walked to Parow Police Station to hand over their memorandum to the station commander, but he was not there.
Another police officer accepted the memorandum and said Parow police would call a meeting with the traders soon to discuss their concerns.