Hawkers don't want to be marginalised for 2010

Hawkers, often the breadwinners of their families, should not be marginalised in the run-up to the 2010 Soccer World Cup, a colloquium on the international soccer spectacle heard in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

Media director Cheche Selepe, speaking for the World Class Cities for All campaign, said hawkers are being evicted from their spaces to create hawker-free zones throughout cities.

Stadiums under construction are often far from amenities and hawkers are providing much-needed services to construction workers. They prepare cheap food for the construction workers, which appeals to their tastes, and occasionally lends them money for transport.

Construction bosses, unable to evict the hawkers and wanting to prevent workers from leaving sites, are setting up their own canteens.

The hawkers are also battling to access electricity and other amenities such as toilets and water.

Hawkers are keen to go for training on food and hygiene and want to negotiate land leases for their stalls.

The “Fifa family” such as Nandos and McDonald’s would probably have maximum access to the stadiums, said Selepe, but international guests might not all want fast food, but something different. “Basically we are fighting that our people should not be marginalised because of this event.”

He was speaking at the 2010 Alternative Voices Colloquium at the University of the Witwatersrand held by the Human Sciences Research Council, the Wits Centre for Urban and Built Environment Studies and the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research.—Sapa