If you were thinking of where to erect an informal market to sell fruits and crafts to tourists passing between South Africa and Mozambique you couldn’t find a better place than the N4 highway in the Maputo Development Corridor.
Informal markets at Mataffin and Matsulu preceded the multimullion-rand development at Nelspruit. For many years groups of rural women were a feature at the side of the national road between Nelspruit and Maputo, carrying bowls full of fruit on their heads. Others exhibited colourful crafts of various designs. Motorists often pulled off whenever something grabbed their attention.
These impromptu stops not only triggered a rush among the women hawkers, but casualties as well. There were several road accidents and hawkers were knocked over by passing cars. This prompted the
Nelspruit municipality to regulate informal trading along the highway, evicting the roadside traders.
The Mpumalanga Premier’s Office held a meeting to work out a plan that would suit both road safety and informal trading activities. The result was the permanent informal market. The proposal captured the attention of banking group Absa, which had a programme to help small entrepreneurs in its corporate social investment portfolio.
ABSA led a series of workshops to support the hawkers through the provision of start-up capital, training and mentorship. In March last year two markets were launched, each with 30 stalls, equipped with electricity, water and sanitation facilities. Hawkers organised themselves into cooperatives with joint bank accounts. The traders’ income is pooled into a common resource.
The Nelspruit Town Council acts as the treasurer, facilitating the equal disbursement of income as well as paying rent and electricity bills. In the course of time, ownership of different functions will devolve to the traders.
Before 1999 women traders operated as sole traders and generated incomes as low as R300 a month.
Through teamwork and harnessing resources and skills, the average monthly income a stall is now about R1 200 a month. Each stall is run by a household.
Absa says its involvement with the project fits entirely with its programme to empower communities. Other programmes in its corporate social investment portfolio include educational upliftment and HIV/Aids awareness campaigns.
The costs for the project are about R1,16-million, with Absa contributing 30% and traders responsible for the purchase of goods and general expenses.