Emeka Nwandiko
They sell from beneath tarpaulin tents, on top of planks of wood, at street corners and on pavements, at half the price in stores, but street hawkers find that even selling at rock-bottom prices does not attract buyers.
“There has been no business this year,” says Hibrahime Theophile from Togo, who sells fresh fruit and vegetables from a pavement in Yeoville, Johannesburg. He says that each week he makes about R250 and he is not optimistic that the market will improve.
Few hawkers say that they are making money at present in an industry estimated to be worth at least R560-million a year for the sale of fresh produce alone. There have been no studies to assess the value of ancillary goods such as clothing and CDs.
And research by the retail industry and consultants show Theophile’s experience is not unique.
Anthony van der Schyff of the NPL Group of consultants says: “Everybody talks about the informal sector. It has grown dramatically but it is becoming increasingly over-traded [and] more sophisticated.”
Which raises the question of the much-touted job-creation potential of the informal sector – it is certainly there, but does it create stability if people cannot move beyond a place on a sidewalk with an upturned cardboard box as their store?
Theophile is one of a growing number of street traders who line the streets of Johannesburg’s CBD and its surrounding suburbs selling products that range from perishable goods to medium-quality merchandise like shoes and clothing.
Informal traders sell their goods at about half the price of their formal competitors, but they, like with the formal retail sector, are finding that even low prices are not an inducement to cash-strapped consumers.
Tembi Ntuli, a street trader from Soweto, sells a pack of 12 small potatoes for R2 and makes a meagre profit of R35 a day in Jeppe Street. She says it is difficult to make more.
A few blocks away, Rhoda Sibinda, who sells facecloths and slippers, believes trade is poor because there are too many people competing for the same business.
The influx of refugees from all parts of the continent, and further afield, like Taiwan and Pakistan, together with South Africa’s unemployed, have seen street trading become an option to the unemployed.
Adam Goldsmith, acting operations manager on informal traders at the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council, says there are about 20 000 informal traders in the country’s economic capital.
Lawrence Mavundla, executive president of the African Council of Hawkers and Informal Businesses, estimates the figure to be one million nationally. The increase in the concentration of goods within CBDs and inner city areas has led to a glut of decent quality goods on the streets, and has driven down prices.
In recent months, the presence of foreign hawkers has been a sore point for indigenous traders, who have called for their immediate expulsion.
Mavundla says the African Council of Hawkers and Informal Businesses wants street trading protected from foreign competitors.
But Steve Roberts, a street trader from Liberia, argues that South African traders do not understand the subtleties of trading. “It is important to take care of your stall and to treat customers well,” he says.
Rogers Govender, who sells vegetables on the corner of Von Brandis and Kerk streets in the CBD of Johannesburg, says the trick is to buy bulk stock which can be sold at low margins, but have a high turnover.
On average, he says, he makes a profit of R1 000 a day from Monday to Thursday, and R1 600 a day on Fridays and Saturdays when trading is at its highest. He says expenses, which include plastic bags, transport and paying his team of four helpers, amounts to about R800 a week.
But Abdul Gafoor, who sells handbags and holdalls in the CBD, believes there is a different reason why trade is sluggish. Says the Pakistani refugee: “People have a perception that if they buy goods from a shop it is better than buying from the street, which is perceived as being too common.”
But there appears little evidence that shoppers looking for a bargain are too proud to shop from the streets. Susan Smuts, an office worker, says she often buys from street traders because their products are “very cheap and are of good quality”.
Nomsa Zuba, at a stall selling trendy ladies platform shoes, says: “I buy my shoes and most products from the street because it is cheaper.”
It appears that another reason why trade is sluggish is because most customers targeted are lower-income earners scratching around for bargains.
According to Livingstone Mantanga, president of the Federal Association for Informal Traders and Hawkers, negotiations are under way with the government to amend legislation which restricts street trading to CBDs and townships. He says traders want access to more markets presently closed to them.