Carwash trade crashes under new law

ISAIAH MOREWAGAE
Staff Writer | Friday September 10, 2010 00:00

The majority of roadside carwash sheds have closed shop as by-law officers have either confiscated their equipment or imposed heavy fines for operating in places that are not meant for such businesses.

Around the city, one finds shades which used to be ablaze with car sounds as young men signal to drivers where to park for their cars to be attended to immediately.

Motorists now have to queue for the only services that are provided by few licensed carwash ports in the city.

The majority of the youth who could not be absorbed in to the tertiary education system now face a bleak future as their only source of livelihood has been criminalised by the GCC.

Some carwash operators are crying foul saying that the GCC is disempowering them. Motshidisi Masilo, an’illegal’ carwash operator is concerned that GCC clamped down on their business as a move to drive them into criminal behaviour. Masilo said his carwash sustained him for rent. He employed about three people who were not fortunate enough to be absorbed into the education system.

He revealed that their problems with the GCC come from afar as they tried to regularise their operations.

“We will try to engage them but nothing will came out of the meeting,” Masilo said. He stressed that on numerous occasions, they tried to meet with council officials in a bid to try to speed up their regularisation of their operations to no avail.

“Sometimes they advise us to apply for permits but nothing comes out of it. They are so slow that you give up along the way,” Masilo said. He added that GCC officials have confiscated his water drum in a bid to force him to close down.

Another operator, Mokganedi Kgosi, in Block 5 says GCC officials have confiscated all his equipment.

He said at his operation, he used to employ six people but now he has to cut down on his staff. He appealed to council to be considerate in that their car wash helps them pay their dues.

“The good thing about this is that were are not stealing from anyone. But now we might be forced into crime as we have nothing to feed us,” Kgosi said. 

GCC chief by-law enforcement officer, Kabelo Tebele, said the council used to allow small business people to operate carwash businesses without licenses but since the inception of Trade Act of 2008 in April all carwash operators should have licenses.

He said the law clearly states that a car wash should be operated at a commercial plot. Tebele stressed that some of the illegal car wash operators misbehave. “Some of them gather there to smoke dagga and became a nuisance to their neighbours,” Tebele said.

He stressed that some of the water they use to clean cars pollutes water in the dams.

Tebele said they are constrained to help small entrepreneurs in acquiring land and establishing car washes which are up to standard because they do not have money and the manpower to do so.

He conceded that indeed they confiscate equipment of carwash operators but stressed that their intention is not to auction them. “We just want them to pay the fine and get back their equipment,” Tebele said.

Tebele revealed that they have closed down 42 operations in accordance with Section 3 of the Trade Act, 2003 and Trade regulation of 2008.

Section 3 of Trade Act stipulates that “no person shall carry on any trade or business for which a licence is required under this Act, unless the person holds a licence authorising him to carry on such trade or business”.

Subsection (1) adds that “the above law shall not apply to a person who has been issued a hawker’s registration certificate or a street vendor’s certificate under any enactment authorising the person to carry on trade or business as a hawker or street vendor”.

A person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding P10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both.

Trade Regulation of 2008 states that a person who carries on the business of cleaning automobiles, either using an auto mechanical system or manually, requires a car wash licence. 

A licensing committee shall issue or renew a car wash licence for a business, which cleans cars using an auto mechanical system if the premises have a functional drainage system, oil or water separator trap and a wash bay.

(3) A licensing committee shall issue or renew a car wash licence for a business, which cleans cars manually if the premises have a functional drainage system and a wash bay.