Residents, motorists and business owners trading in the Central Business District (CBD) are calling on eThekwini Municipality to fix malfunctioning parking metres in the Durban City Centre.
A business owner based in Albert Street, Tausif Muhammad said malfunctioning parking meters are a great concern in the CBD. He has alleged that the non-operational parking meters have led to some customers not going to his store to give him business.
“Most parking metres in the CBD are not working and this is costing me money. On the street where my business is located, I have two parking metres and for the past three to four years they have both been out of order. Due to this, people are parking vehicles for long hours and sometimes for days because they know there is no time limit to park and they are not going to get a fine from the Metro Police. I park my vehicle at ‘paid parking’ on a monthly basis so that my customers can have space to park but unfortunately some residents park their vehicles in front of my business for long hours which blocks my customers. My customers have no choice but to double park and they end up getting a minimum parking fine of R500 and sometimes Durban Metro police tow their vehicles to the pound and it costs more money to have the vehicles released. This is an ongoing issue which is destroying my business. I am appealing to officials at eThekwini Municipality to have this issue sorted as it is costing me my bread and butter,” said Muhammad.
Ward 28 DA PR councillor, Sharmaine Sewshanker said malfunctioning parking metres are a major issue in the city. She said it’s frustrating for motorists to pay ‘unnecessary fines’ due to the city’s failure to keep their metres working.
“Durban Metro police give motorists, shoppers and business owners a tough time for not having the parking discs displayed on their windscreens. It makes it very difficult for businesses, shoppers and motorists using the streets because by the time they park vehicles and go looking for disc booths that work, they find that they have already been given a fine, so there is a no win situation in the city centre. I have called the number repeatedly to try to get them fixed but there is no resolutions coming forward from the contractors or the people that service the booths. This is a crisis and I am inundated with complaints daily regarding this. I, myself as the city councillor get fined by Metro Police all the time, even though I have got a badge displayed. Now where do people park if they have an emergency and there is no parking metre nearby? Even if they find it, it’s streets away from their vehicles. I am not blaming the Metro Police, it’s not their fault but we need the city to get the metres working instead of issuing fines unfairly. The centre is a huge economic hub and people come here to do their shopping and business owners don’t have special parking due to the rates at private parkades that have gone up. If the city gets things like metres working, it will encourage people to come back to the city and the economy will start picking up,” said Sewshanker.
Durban Metro Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Boysie Zungu said officers are doing what they are tasked to do by issuing tickets to those found parking illegally. “The installation of parking metres is the responsibility of the eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA). Motorists are advised to look for a working metre if a nearby metre is not working,” he said.
