Abdali is sorrowful whenever he thinks about how business was conducted at Makkah's Al-Ka'kiyah vegetable market 20 years ago and how it is done these days. He said the situation in the halaqa (vegetable market) has deteriorated so much that it is now difficult for Saudi traders to make profits due to those who are working in violation of residency (Iqama) and labor office regulations. Al-Abdali has been working in the halaqa for the past 21 years as a wholesale trader, and he said that in the past, the competition among Saudis was honest and mutual respect prevailed. Now, however, expatriates, most of whom are overstayers, have taken over the market and have organized themselves into groups who virtually control the price at which goods are sold. Al-Abdali said that they are now running everything in the halaqa, and he wondered, the concerned authorities were doing nothing about it. Khalid Al-Nimri, a 30-year-old Saudi, agreed with Al-Abdali. “I have been working for ten years now, and I have witnessed all the decisions which periodically call for the Saudization of the halaqa. Unfortunately, they have been nothing but words. The situation in the market these days does not please any Saudi national. I am the only Saudi working here, along with 500 expatriates who pay Saudi citizens for the use of their names,” Al-Nimri said. Al-Nimri spoke about the alliances and conspiracies plotted by expatriates against any Saudi who tries to do business in the market. They are capable of causing the Saudi to incur great losses by decreasing their prices, so that he has no choice but to lower his own prices as well. As a result, Saudis cannot continue in the market for a long time. Turki Al-Jahdali, a young Saudi, said the hardships of life forced him to abandon his education after completing intermediate school, and he entered the world of trade in the vegetable market. “After borrowing a good amount of money from my relatives,” Al-Jahdali said, “I opened a stall in the halaqa. I was stunned, however, to find organized groups of expatriates who were continuously striving to lower the prices. I was forced to sell at such low prices that I incurred great losses and came out of the halaqa overburdened with debts. I returned to the halaqa to work on a daily wage of SR50, working from 8.00 AM to 6.00 PM without a day off. If I wanted to absent myself for any reason, I would have to beg my expatriate employer for permission even if he deducted it from my wages.” Al-Jahdali further said that most of the market was run by expatriates with the help of a number of Saudi nationals who granted the expatriates permission to use their names in return for a fee they received at the end of every month. Al-Jahdali suggested a number of solutions for the problem faced by Saudis trying to conduct business at the halaqa, such as, reducing the SR60,000 rent for stalls in the market, intensifying the municipality control and supervision of the halaqa, and fully implementing the Saudization regulations. An official source in the mayoralty said that the function of the municipality is restricted to granting licenses to stalls, making sure that stalls are in approved locations, and ensuring that workers are clean, follow hygienic methods and have proper health certificates. He pointed out that there are continuous inspection tours by municipality supervisors in the market. He stressed that implementation of Saudization regulations in the vegetable market is the responsibility of the Labor Office, which has an independent office at the pertinent locations.
