More than R3-million in outstanding rentals from informal traders will be written off by the eThekwini Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal as part of the city's effort to encourage them to start paying for the services they received from the municipality.
The recommendation was made in a report by the business support unit to the business support, city enterprises and markets sub-committee.
Now the economic development and planning committee and the executive committee will have to approve the recommendation before it is adopted.
The report recommended that R3,7-million of informal traders' arrears be written off, as it was feared that the cost of recovering the debts would exceed the debt owed to the council.
"It will be difficult to recover the debts because some of the traders are no longer operating while others have no proper physical addresses," said the report.
However, the head of the business support unit, Lindiwe Mahlangu, refused to comment, saying the scrapping of the arrears was still a recommendation and no resolution had been adopted by the council.
"The matter is at an infancy stage for me to comment in public. We will comment when there is an executive committee resolution," she said.
This recommendation is expected to go together with the proposal to implement an informal trading policy that is being piloted in Durban's central business district and beachfront and in Isipingo, Verulam and Pinetown.
The municipality has been grappling with the problem of informal traders after reports that some have been operating outside the designated areas while others continue to trade without permits.
As part of regulating the informal trading sector, the city has issued 317 authentic permits for them to operate in the Durban CBD, 335 permits on the beachfront, 186 for Pinetown and 130 in Verulam.
Central to the informal economy policy is the enforcement of the street-trading by-laws and the business support unit has submitted an enforcement plan to the executive committee for adoption.
"The achievements are undermined by the lack of enforcement and, since 2000, the non-enforcement of street trading bylaws has been an issue," said the report.
DA caucus leader Lyn Ploos Van Amstel welcomed the proposal, saying the DA was excited that there was proper management of the informal trading sector.
"To recover the money is not a cost-effective measure because the amount will end up exceeding the amount of the debt owed to the city.
"But it is not right to scrap arrears for people who continue to trade," she said.