Expected ‘mass protest' total flop

The march, dubbed “The Mass Protest” by its hopeful organisers, was such a flop that less than a 100 people took part.

The aim of the march was to show support for the provincial task team and municipality on the proposed development, including the building of a mall.

While the march was peaceful there were one or two incidents of finger-pointing and hurling of insults between the protesters and those who are against the demolishing of the market. But police monitored the situation.

Forum secretary Nathi Mbatha said they were unperturbed by the low turnout.

He said they were fully behind the development because for many years, informal traders had been exploited and had never grown as they should.

“To us it was not about numbers but about the end results,” Mbatha said.

He said they supported the development because they were certain that it would benefit informal traders and not only a few individuals, as is the case with Early Morning Market.

He said the market belonged to a certain “minority group” that exploited others, especially blacks, which is why they were against the development.

“All we want is economic transformation and this development is a platform for that,” he said.

Lennox Mabaso, who accepted the memorandum on behalf of MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu, promised to forward it by yesterday.

Source: Sowetan

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