Celani Sikhakhane
On Monday night, bulldozers and frontloaders plowed through the area of eZifubeni, calling time on a failed business centre, which instead had descended into a hotbed of criminal activity.
The complex was opened close to the city centre in Ulundi in KwaZulu-Natal in 2011 to be a bustling centre for street vendor businesses.
However, over the years it was neglected by the local government and became a den for prostitution, drug dealing and even illegal abortions.
Police confirmed that the remains of multiple foetuses were discovered on the site.
Even SAPS officers avoided the area, deeming it too dangerous to patrol. One SAPS member told Scrolla.Africa that the area had been putting the community in danger for many years.
“The place was a danger to anyone including us as police. In fact, the Municipality should have shut down this place a long time ago,” said the police officer, who also did not want to be named.
“In November last year our colleagues were attacked with stones while they were patrolling the area. They had to be admitted to hospital,” said the officer.
Although many are pleased that eZifubeni has been demolished, there were legitimate businesses which still operated there, which now face destitution.
Diliza Mlambo, a community member, was angered by the demolition.
“We don’t support the shutdown of eZifubeni at all because many people used this area to have an income and feed their families,” said Mlambo.
“How could you close a place that is a source of survival for your community? They should have sent police to guard the area instead of closing it down.”
Ulundi Municipal Manager, Nkosenye Zulu, said that the area will create more legitimate jobs.
“We will turn it into a taxi rank so that taxi operators could use it instead of being occupied by criminals,” Zulu said.
“There were women who were operating honestly during the day. So we have organised new materials for them which will assist them to sell their products under the new structure of a taxi rank.”
