Eleven hours a day, seven days a week, Xolani Sinandile (29) of Nyanga, Cape Town, stands on the Main Road intersection near Sea Point, struggling to sell newspapers in order to feed himself and his family.
On average, he makes 50 cents per copy, but for Sinandile, and hundreds of thousands of others, this is all that stands between him and abject poverty.
”This isn’t life, my brother. But it’s all I can do. I see no alternative. At least I’m making an honest living,” he says, heaving a sigh when he looks at the colourful Lamborghinis and top-end Mercedes vehicles in the showroom of Ashley’s Investment Cars just across the street.
This Cape Town intersection starkly illustrates the contrast between South Africa’s rich and poor. Out in the blazing sun works Xolani, breathing exhaust fumes and wondering if he will sell enough papers to make it through the day, while a stone’s throw away, in the air-conditioned showroom, well-dressed men are struggling to choose between a new Jaguar or a Maserati.
Xolani is the personification of the most visible part of the informal economy in South Africa. Every day, he and an estimated million other informal traders peddle their goods on the streets of South Africa, trying to eke out a living.
According to the September 2006 Labour Force Survey (LFS), there are 2Â 379Â 000 people working in informal enterprises in South Africa. How many of them are street traders remains unsure, as the sector is very volatile.
Caroline Skinner, of the school of development studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, has been involved in research and policy work in the informal economy. ”As we look closer to the data of the LFS, we can see that 50% of these 2Â 379Â 000 people are working in the retail sector. Of these, 1Â 189Â 500 — a big proportion — would be street traders,” she calculates.
”In terms of city-level statistics, I would estimate — on a very rough calculation — that there are between 60Â 000 and 70Â 000 traders in both Johannesburg and Durban and 35Â 000 in Cape Town.”
Low on cash
The array of goods being hawked on the streets is astounding — cellphone accessories, sunglasses, paintings, shoe storage pouches, beadwork, clothes and even jokes are for sale.
However, according to a report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), about ”70% of all street traders in the country sell food” and most of them ”are the main breadwinners for their family”.
This is the case for Elvis Sithebe (27), of Soshanguve near Pretoria, who lives with and cares for his three younger brothers. Asked why his parents are not earning an income, he replies that he would rather talk about his own business.
Sithebe’s business is ”his” pitch located on the corner of Jan Smuts and Seventh avenues in Rosebank, Johannesburg. He sells different kinds of seasonal fruit.
”On a good day I earn R80 to R150. Today I sell papayas and red grapes, but it doesn’t go to well,” he complains. ”Every day, I have to travel to and from Pretoria in a bakkie with about 10 other guys. That costs me R60. And as of now, my sales don’t even add up to that.”
Policy problems
Besides being low on cash, South Africa’s street traders have other problems looming.
”The biggest problem for street traders is that their only negotiating partner is the local government,” says Pat Horn, of Streetnet International, an organisation that protects the rights of hawkers and street traders.
”And the local government turns a blind eye to their problems. Especially in Johannesburg and Cape Town, street traders aren’t recognised. There is a major problem in continuity as cities never have any long-standing policy strategies,” she says.
Horn regrets that municipalities seem to long for the days when they were allowed to prevent street trading. Although she is glad things have changed, she now sees a new peril in the outsourcing of governmental responsibilities to other institutions.
”Johannesburg and Cape Town are both outsourcing some of their responsibilities to other institutions. This approach results in violent conflicts, as there is fierce competition revolving from it,” she says.
”The problem with outsourcing responsibilities to particular street-vendor organisations is that the permit system becomes very irregular and corruption thrives. There are different kind of permits for different prices and even fake permits. And as the organisations are racially composed, some people are favoured over others.”
Horn fears that with the 2010 Soccer World Cup approaching, things may look even worse for street vendors as ”all existing policies are thrown out of the window to clear the streets”.
The ILO report confirms that the Johannesburg city council’s aim ”seems to be to remove all street traders from the streets of the central business district”. It adds that ”street traders clog up pavements, are obstructing pedestrians and vehicles, and make the city dirty and dangerous”.
However, according to a member of the Johannesburg mayoral committee for finance and economic development, councillor Parks Tau, informal traders have nothing to worry about.
”Jo’burg has no intention of removing informal traders from streets or implementing punitive measures against them in preparation for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. That is unlikely to happen for an event that will come and go, whereas street trading is here to stay,” he says.
Tau adds that the city has ”committed itself to the creation of an all-inclusive policy formulation and development mechanism that will have completed its initial work by end July 2007”.
Fair trade
A city that has tried to implement a fair policy towards street traders is Durban. Horn says it is the only city that has, in the past, recognised street traders as business people.
”If we can speak of a ‘best’ policy programme concerning street traders, Durban had it. It had the most holistic approach. They had an implementation working group and a database which keeps track of everybody who is working on the street.”
But as Horn remarks, policy continuity is the big problem. ”Unfortunately, due to reorganisation the policy was abolished and the implementation has come to a standstill. Even the database was stopped.”
This is the problem in all cities, Horn says. Policy implementation falls victim to the whim of the persons in charge. Most of the time, these officials have no intention to maintain a long-standing policy strategy.
At the Cape Town intersection, Xolani returns from another fruitless stroll past the endless line-up of cars. He leans against a tree to enjoy some of its shade. ”Sure, I would like to do something else. But how?” He pulls up his shirt. Streaks of inflamed flesh unfold from just below his neck all the way to his lower body. ”I was almost burned alive in a shack. Firemen saved me. One day I hope to be one of them.”