A group of car washers who have been operating in Durham Road in Mthatha say the King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) Local Municipality is taking away their only means of survival after ordering them to stop working in the area.
Thobile Nonhi (32), from Marubeni in Libode, said he and other men have been washing cars in the street for several years. However, in 2024, municipal officials told them to stop, claiming their work was making the area dirty and that the chemicals they were using were damaging the tar road.
“I’m a married man with children in high school. The money I make here is the only income I have to support my family. We are not refusing to move, but they have not given us an alternative place to work. We are sitting at home now, confused and desperate,” he said.
He said that if they attempted to continue working, municipal officials would seize the cars they were washing, forcing the owners to retrieve them from municipal premises and pay R1200.
Nonhi said this crackdown began early in 2024 and has continued ever since.
Siyabonga Mkhobeni (36), from Port St Johns, echoed Nonhi’s concerns. He said the municipality refers to local bylaws when removing them, accusing them of damaging the road surface.
“But we are only using regular soap, nothing harmful. They started pushing us out in February last year. We have rent to pay, children to feed. We have been left with nothing. What’s confusing is that some people have been arrested while others have not.”
He added that when the municipality removes people from a place, they are supposed to be relocated, but that is not happening to them. “We are not sure; maybe they are trying to force us to commit a crime. We have changed our lives and are trying to earn an honest living.”
Mkhobeni said they have approached various government offices for assistance but have received no help. They even took their concerns to the King of the Abathembu Nation, King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, hoping for intervention.
A concerned resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said he grew up struggling in the area and is now well-educated. He expressed frustration at the municipality’s actions.
“Not all of us are born equal, and people survive in different ways. The municipality is destroying livelihoods; meanwhile, basic service delivery is failing. Just look at the overflowing toilets and the sewage running down the streets (just next to your Express offices, for example, even in some of the streets in town). Instead of fixing these issues, they chase away people who are simply trying to earn a living,” he said.
Spokesperson of the Kingdom of Abathembu, Lwandile Mtikrakra, confirmed that the aggrieved people had come to the palace. “But they have not met with the King to register their grievances,” he said.
Express contacted the spokesperson for King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) Local Municipality, Sonwabo Mampoza, for a comment, but he did not respond to the media enquiry that was sent to him.
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