(MENAFN- The Post) MASERU – SMALL-SCALE traders in Quthing district are up in arms against Chinese businesses which they say are undermining their businesses.
Taxi operators and street vendors joined the protest yesterday.
The business operators alleged that the Chinese traders were destroying their businesses.
The protest comes a week after the health inspectorate, the District Administrator's office and the police raided several grocery shops run by the Chinese in Quthing district.
Some of the Chinese businesses were found selling rotten food.
Kabi Thulo, a small trader, said he held a meeting attended by the Quthing District Administrator (DA), the Ministry of Trade, health inspector, the police and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“At the meeting we discussed problems around small business owners including the street vendors,” Thulo said.
“The health inspector from the Ministry of Health confirmed that some Chinese businesses are operating illegally,” he said.
He said some of the Chinese businessmen did not have passports but no action is being taken against them.
He said street vendors say the Chinese businesses sell small items that should be sold by them.
And that destroys their business since they buy from them.
Another street vendor who asked to remain anonymous said there are three Chinese-owned stores in Mount Moorosi that sell expired food.
He said they have since complained about the carelessness of the Chinese shops in the area.
“We eat food with cat fur and con chips mixed with rat waste,” he said.
He further complained that the Chinese do not close their shops at the times stipulated by the law.
He said Chinese businesses have replaced Basotho workers with their fellow Chinese who do not even have work permits.
He said the Chinese have set up cafes in the countryside where they unfairly compete with small businesses run by Basotho.
“We are tired of working for Chinese businesses,” he said.
The aggrieved street vendors said the Chinese even have a mobile shop.
“They go around selling and that makes Basotho stop buying from other Basotho's businesses,” he said.
In May 2018, the police raided Sky Country butchery following complaints from the public that it was selling rotten meat.
It was alleged that this was not the first time that the Sky Country had been in trouble with the law for allegedly selling rotten meat products.
Again, in February 2013, three businessmen of Chinese descent were also charged with contravening the public health order after they were caught selling expired foodstuffs in their supermarkets.
Tšepang Mapola