By Nkosenhle Sibisi
The popular Shongweni Farmers and Craft Market which attracts hundreds of people every Saturday morning will be re-opening on 11 June after being closed for two months as the road leading to the market collapsed during the torrential rains and floods which hit the province in April. One of the excited market-goers, Minenhle Ndwandwe said
Market Organiser, Christine Standeavan said that there was major damage to the Mr551 Road leading up to the market and they had to close as the stakeholders were unable to operate due to the public not having a safe access road. She added that the owners of the market teamed up with the relevant departments to get the road fixed so that the market could be up and running again.
“The closure of the market caused a major knock-on effect with stallholders and their affiliated staff livelihoods being affected. We as, The Shongweni Farmers Market owners, started contacting all the relevant departments, main one being The Department of Transport (DOT) and eThekwini Municipality. Transport Department agreed to source the material and eThekwini Metro Municipality offered their expertise, machines and staff. Unfortunately, DOT were unable to supply the materials, so we offered to source and pay for all the materials required. eThekwini Metro came on board with their engineers, skilled staff and equipment. The works started on Friday, 3 June, laying the massive pipes that would run under the new road. With the support and guidance of eThekwini Metro Senior Manager, Shange Manqoba, who oversaw and coordinated the whole project, tar was laid onto the finished road on June, 2,” said Standeaven.
She added that this was made possible by the hard work of the teams involved as everyone worked into the late hours of the night including Saturday and Sunday. “Being away was devastating, and our stall holders rely on this income to live and to feed their families. I would like to thank the owners of Shongweni Farmers and Craft Market for supplying the materials and eThekwini Metro for their expertise of their engineers and equipment. Killarney 4×4 Farm for use of their machinery and contribution of some of the materials.This work would have been done in totality by the relevant departments however unfortunately, we could not wait until the end of the year for this,” she said.
Standeaven also added that everyone is super excited to get back to trading, and they will be hosting their belated Easter egg hunt which was put on hold due to severe weather conditions in April. “The market will re-open on the 11 June, with the new time slot of 7am to 1pm. In addition, after many requests from the public and stallholders we will be adding an extra day being the last Sunday of each month from 8am to 12pm, beginning on the 31st of July 2022,” added Standeaven.
