The Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI)  in South Africa (SA) has welcomed a ruling by the South Gauteng High Court compelling the City of Johannesburg to fast-track the verification and registration of informal traders.

This comes after SERI took legal action last week against the City over the forced removal of traders who were accused of operating without permits and in non-designated areas. The City justified the removals by citing by-law violations.

SERI’s legal Counsel, Deborah Raduba, says the ruling ensures that informal traders now have a platform for meaningful engagement with the City:

“The judgment is basically instructing parties to mediate in terms of Rule 41A and as SERI we are happy with that because we always wanted to engage the City and have meaningful consultations. So mediation will force the City and informal traders to come to the fore and hash things out that hopefully won’t need us to return. So basically the registration process will run now, meaning a trader should be able to go to the City with relevant documents to be verified and allocated in accordance to the informal trading policy of 2022.”

–ChannelAfrica–