It’s not about the G20, Morero says again, as city heads back to court over informal trader evictions

Inside Metros Reporter

In his Mayor’s Weekly Update, published on Sunday, Johannesburg executive mayor Dada Morero was cast as a compassionate politician who was evicting informal traders without permits not because of the upcoming G20 leaders summit, but to restore order to the city.

The city is returning to the South Gauteng High Court on Monday to oppose an urgent application by the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) to halt the removal of the traders.

The matter was supposed to be heard on Friday, with SERI representing about 500 members of the informal traders forum, but negotiations over the relocation of traders failed, and the matter was postponed. 

In his update, Morero said the city would continue enforcing by-laws. “We won’t allow anybody to trade on the road illegally or anywhere else, unless in [designated] places”.  

The ANC-led metro is desperately trying to clean-up the inner city and restore order via its oft neglected by-laws. In March, President Cyril Ramaphosa told Johannesburg officials that the “environment” in the city was “not pleasing” and could be “immensely improved”. 

Johannesburg has long been synonymous with crime, filth, hijacked buildings, water and electricity outages, and overall decay. Morero and the city in the weekly update again denied that the enforcement has anything to do with the G20.  

“Under mayor Morero, the inner-city recovery began long before the G20 was handed to President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2024,  and it will continue long after the two-day summit ends.”

Last month, the city officially resumed issuing informal trading permits “to ensure that the informal trading sector is properly regulated and supported as part of the city’s broader economic development strategy”. 

But the city also said that “only eligible and compliant traders” would receive permits, which take the form of smart cards. 

The first smart