By Nangamso Mabindla
28 July 2004

TRADERS who make braais and cook meat for visitors to the Beach Burger - a picnic and entertainment area on the East London beachfront - have turned to the Buffalo City municipality for help in finding alternative sources of wood for their fires.

Buffalo City has asked the traders to stop cutting wood from the dune shrub. According to the municipality, this is destroying the environment along the Esplanade.

The traders have, instead, been asked to gather and cut wood from Nahoon Point, at the mouth of the Nahoon River - a 30-minute walk away.

This, say the traders, will be bad for business. These small entrepreneurs offer a service to picnickers and people relaxing at the Beach Burger. For R7, the braaiers will cook visitors' meat on their ready-made fires.

One of the traders, Buyisile Khatyana, says: "The municipality told us to cut wood at Nahoon Point, but that's too far for us."

Khatyana suggests several ways in which the traders and the municipality might work together.

"If they work with us and tell us why they don't want us to cut wood here for our braais, it'll be easier for us all - including the municipality," he says.

Khatyana suggests that the municipality appoint someone to transport them to Nahoon Point. "It would help if they gave us someone to drive there, so we're able to go there and come back without losing out on business."

The City's social-services portfolio head, Fudukile Mbovane, agrees and says the municipality plans to hold workshops with the traders.

"We have been talking about this for some time now. We want to teach them about the value of our vegetation. You can't just cut wood at random."

However, says Mbovane, the consultation process needs to be speeded up. "We need to work fast and put a stop to this; it's killing our environment."

Luleka Simon, Buffalo City's councillor for the environment, says it's important to teach people the value of the environment around the Beach Burger.

"The Beach Burger has a lot of potential; we need to show these people that," she says.

"Instead of getting rid of the traders, we can teach them how to recycle and make money out of it. We need to teach them the value of sustaining our environment."

Simon admits the municipality is in a catch-22 situation. "We need to address the problem but at the same remember that these people are creating employment for themselves."

She adds: "We need to be sensitive and find a suitable alternative."

Buffalo City wants its newly created Beach Development Agency to tackle such issues.

"In time we're going to make our beachfront a major tourist attraction - but we need to address such issues before we look at the bigger picture," says Simon.