Market tenants sent packing

Patricia Edwin | Thursday March 6, 2014 17:37

 

The tenants admitted to Mmegi that they might be relocated to Block 2, which for them is not viable because it is too far from their customers who are mostly in the city centre.

In an interview with Mmegi, the mayor of Francistown James Kgalajwe disclosed that the tenants at the central market stalls face eviction as the FCC is in the process of handing over the site to an unnamed developer, who had planned to begin building at the beginning of this month.

Kgalajwe said they are being forced to evict the tenants, especially those that have defaulted on rentals.

He said that out of the 55 stalls at the central market only 17 tenants managed to pay within the stipulated period while the remaining 39 will have to vacate the stalls without being offered alternative stalls elsewhere.  “The tenants were requested to pay their arrears within 30 days after which they will be offered alternative stalls at the time of eviction,” he said.

He further said that eviction of tenants should have been completed by February 28 this year and that the tenants have been engaged and informed about the pending relocation since 2004.

“This should not come as a surprise to them as they are aware of the development that has been pending for a very long time. I urged them to cooperate with officials”.

The mayor said that it was his belief that this development will transform the Central Business District (CBD) into a more vibrant place than it was before.

However, the tenants are not taking things lying down saying the council will render them destitute with this move.

One of the women Catherine Kelekang said she has been selling food there for more than 20 years and that she will have nowhere to go should she be evicted.

“The whole process is frustrating.  We have been told that we may be relocated to the old market site at Block 2, but I am not happy about that.

“Who is going to buy from us at that place (Block 2)? Our customers buy lunch from the offices in the centre of the town. We once went there for a short while and no one came to buy from us. We will have to sit at home,” she said in defeat. 

A tailor at the market place Tobias Salle said that he was confused and worried about what he will do with his clients. He said that he has been there since 1979.

He said that he has heard that tenants will be sent to Block 2, but he does not think the place is good for business.

“I will go home or find another place and my clients who have my number will call me. But those who do not have my contacts will struggle,” he said.

He said that he also has a lot of stuff that he accumulated over the years and now did not know where he would take them.

Perhaps patrons of the market place from as far back as the 1970s would remember Khulumani Muthuthuza and Kante Ntsheme, who are now elderly.

They were at the marketplace during the days of Mophane Club when a bomb detonated as patrons were dancing to, ‘Too Many People are suffering.’  They were jointly running a stall in the marketplace, serving office workers with food which they would have loved to continue doing had it not been for the spoilsport called FCC. They too, are giving up as they do know where to from here.  “We are finished,” a downcast Ntsheme concluded.