“I won’t let you or anybody take my livelihood from me. Now that’s something to die over”
Vendors say beach business is all they have
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — After 15 months of little to no work due to the coronavirus pandemic restrictions, several Cabbage Beach vendors said yesterday their livelihoods are now at risk after allegedly thousands of dollars of their property was moved off the beach overnight and a fence was erected blocking access to the beach.
Ishmael Sutherland, 42, said he was shocked when he received a call that his belongings were among dozens moved and stacked along the side of the street without his knowledge.
Sutherland, who has been a Cabbage Beach vendor of 26 years, said he rushed to the beach early yesterday morning and found that more than half of his rental chairs could not be accounted for and some had been damaged, amounting to what he claimed was millions of dollars in lost revenue.
“This is our livelihood. This is all we know,” he said.
“This is the work that we do to provide for our families and it really hurts us. This is something serious.”
Sutherland said things were already hard for him throughout the pandemic, having to find odd jobs through the government to survive.
He said he could not imagine what he would do if he was not able to continue his business on the beach.
Access Industries, developer of the private property next to the entrance of the beach, said in a statement yesterday the path to the beach was closed due to “safety concerns” as clearing work on the privately-owned vacant tract had begun for a condominium-hotel development.
However, beach vendors insisted they were not advised about the action and were not forewarned that their belongings would be compromised.
Dozens of irate vendors gathered at the entrance of the Paradise Island beach and took apart the fence, uprooted it and proceeded to the beach, hauling their recovered items and goods along.
Those vendors made it clear yesterday that they are not backing down and are ready to take action over the matter.
Larry Miller, spokesperson for the Cabbage Beach Vendors Association (CBVA), said they spent too many years building up the beach to give it up now.
His wife, Capprio Saunders, who has been a beach vendor for nearly 16 years, said: “Everything we get, we get from off of this beach and we refuse to let this government or any foreigner think they going to move us off of this beach. We ain’t going nowhere.
“We don’t care if we get lock up… We got fight; all of us going to fight. Tell them bring it on because we ain’t going nowhere.”
Jennifer Elizabeth Stirrup, 50, said she raised six children off the income of her hair-braiding business on the beach.
“Where I have to go, Mr Minnis? Where I going? Who is going hire me at the age of 50?” she asked.
Stirrup, a Cabbage Beach vendor of more than 30 years, said the past year of struggling to make it through the pandemic was “hell” for her and warned the government that if they want a “war”, they can get one.
“Y’all decide to open your beach when you want to. Now y’all trying to take us off the beach. So what you want me do?” she asked.
“You want me rob and kill and shoot up the place? We will give you what you want…
“I won’t let you or anybody take my livelihood from me. Now that’s something to die over. I will die fighting for this beach…”
Protestors cried shame on Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, underscoring that while in opposition, he stood alongside vendors in support of a similar plight they faced just over five years ago.
At the time, Minnis was joined by then-Free National Movement (FNM) candidates Renward Wells, Duane Sands and Halson Moultrie; and a host of Democratic National Alliance (DNA) supporters, including then-DNA Leader Branville McCartney.
Paul Rolle, head of the CBVA and a vendor of more than 35 years, was also among protesters in the 2016 protest and yesterday insisted that the beach is public, owned by the Bahamian people, and the developers had no right to take such action.
He also warned the prime minister that if he does not act, the issue could cost him the upcoming general election.
In an interview with Eyewitness News yesterday, Minister of Tourism Dionisio D’Aguilar said his ministry was “blindsided” by the developer’s move.
He said he has since spoken to Access Industries and advised them to “stand down” and reassess the situation.