Illegal Yemeni and Asian workers, who pushcarts full of fruits and vegetables all over the city and sell their produce at low prices, are financially damaging shops that are fully licensed by the municipality. Carts and makeshift stands which are set up outside mosques and schools and near busy intersections can be seen doing a brisk trade daily while nearby fruit and vegetable shops are empty. While the owners of the pushcarts have no overhead expenses, shop owners have to pay for rent, electricity and licensing fees. Many shops have complained to the municipality about illegal street vendors damaging their trade. “I called 940 to complain about this problem 10 days ago. However, I have yet to receive a satisfactory response,” Ziad, who has a vegetable shop in Al-Nakheel district, told Saudi Gazette. Ziad added that he struggles at the end of every month to pay the electricity bill and the rent of his shop and often has little or no profit because of the illegal Yemeni and Asian workers. “I sit in my shop and watch them pass by with their carts filled with all the things that I am selling. They stop for business on the corner near my shop at the busiest times of the day. I watch people, many of whom have bought from me in the past, rushing to buy from the pushcarts. And there is nothing that I can do about it, except dial 940 yet again.” Jeddah residents patronize the street carts and stands as they find the prices lower than those in licensed fruit and vegetable shops. “One kilo of tomatoes is about SR5 in the shops, but you can buy it from the Yemenis for SR3,” Saudi national Ali Yousef said. Although prices from the street vendors are attractive, the quality of the fruits and vegetables they sell is not that good. The illegal workers are not allowed to buy large quantities of goods from the halaggah (wholesale fruit and vegetable market) as they are not Saudis. Therefore, they depend on Saudi distributors who collect the produce and distribute it to them. The Saudis buy the fruits and vegetables in the market at a low price usually because they are not fresh and have been stored for a long time. “After only two days in the refrigerator, the fruits and vegetables start to go bad because they are not fresh,” Awadh Al-Safhi, told Saudi Gazette. Jeddah municipality periodically confiscates the pushcarts, swooping down on the illegal Yemenis and Asians who abandon their carts and produce and escape into the narrow alleyways of the various districts of the city. According to statistics from the committee for controlling street peddlers in Jeddah municipality, 259 carts were recently confiscated in Al-Azizia, Al-Balad, and the old airport districts of the city. “We made a tour of many districts all over Jeddah to confiscate pushcarts and at the same time the fruits and vegetables on sale because many of them are not fit to eat. We keep the good produce in our store and distribute it to charity organizations in the city,” Eng. Mohammed Ajjaj, head of Al-Azizia municipality branch, said. However, Saudi Gazette discovered that once the municipality confiscates pushcarts, the illegal Yemeni and Asian workers get new ones at a cost of just SR100, as the vehicles are only made of wood and bicycle wheels. And just as the municipality seems to be losing its battle to control the spread of mosquitoes in the city, a few days after the confiscation operation, the illegal workers and their pushcarts are back plying their trade on the city's streets. Some have asked if it is not haraam (prohibited) for members of the public to attend communal prayers and then upon leaving the mosque, purchase goods from illegal street vendors. Saudi Gazette posed this question to Sheikh Asim Al-Hakeem, a renown Islamic scholar and Imam of Al-Tayar Mosque, Jeddah, who said that if something is halaal (permissible), then it is always permissible to purchase it, no matter where that might be. As for the street vendors hurting the business of licensed fruit and vegetable shops, Sheikh Al-Hakeem said that you could also say that large shopping malls are hurting the business of small shops. Therefore, he said that it is permissible to purchase items from these street vendors. “We are obliged by the law of the Qur'an and Sunnah to obey the ruler of the country and government. If there is anything illegal or wrong, then it is the government's concern to look after it. And if selling on streets or in front of mosques is not allowed by the government, then it is the sellers who are doing wrong, not the buyers,” he added.
