One of the traders on the Grand Parade says a renovation is needed, but the city mustn’t try to control what they sell.
|||“A major refurbishment of the shops and a clean-up of the Parade is needed, but the city mustn’t try to control what we sell,” says Hassan Sunday, owner of Nuru’s Fast Foods & Takeways.
Sunday, 55, from Parow, has been running the restaurant at Grand Parade for 20 years.
Selling fast foods such as pies, Gatsbys and boerewors rolls is the Sunday family’s only income.
Sunday said the parade was riddled with crime, drug dealers and people loitering throughout the day and urinating in the area.
“The public toilets are closed most of the time, so people urinate all over the place,” he said.
“In the morning when we arrive it stinks and we have to sell food in that stench.”
Sunday said banning public parking in the area would cause a “major blow” to their business as their customers would go elsewhere.
“The city needs to make allowances for our customers to at least park for a short period of time for free,” he said.
Making sure that the restaurant is profitable is a “must” for Sunday as he is paying for his two daughters’ education.
One is studying at the University of the Western Cape and the other is in matric.
He said he paid R3 000 a month rent for the shop to the city council and another R3 000 for water, electricity and rates.
The restaurant is open from Monday to Sunday, from 6am until 9pm.
“We have to work really hard to generate a profit.
“My whole family helps in running the business.
“Since I opened the place I have never taken a break or a holiday.
“I have to work hard; it’s the only income we have and I have to support my family.”
Sunday said the Grand Parade required visible policing to help curb the crime and to chase away “troublemakers” in the area.
He added that if the city put out a tender for the renovation, business owners at the Parade should be given preference as they had been in the area for a long time.
“And they could do with the extra income,” he said.
nontando.mposo@inl.co.za - Cape Argus