Trader struggles to rebuild after riots
• Informal trade is a huge part of SA’s economy, yet it fails to get support
Nanny-turned-entrepreneur Carren Chakanetsa’s informal business was almost destroyed in the unrest that gripped Gauteng in July, forcing her to pick up the pieces and start over again.
After taking the leap to go it alone, the single mother of a nine-year-old boy had to find something that would keep food on the table. She opted to start a business selling clothing for plus-size women. She soon knew she had spotted a gap in the market, which she grabbed with both hands.
However, her vision to turn her business into something more substantial, was shattered by the riots and looting that took place in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng last month.
Zimbabwean-born Chakanetsa, who has lived in SA for 10 years, says the idea for the business came from people’s compliments on her own clothing, with some inquiring where she did her shopping.
“It was a nightmare trying to find something suitable for women my size. I even stopped going into clothing stores because I knew I wouldn’t find anything that fitted or suited my taste. The stores had completely forgotten about us,” she says.
Her transition to business was not entirely one of choice. She worked as a nanny but found she could not deal with the requirements arising from the first wave of Covid-19.
“As the world was dealing with a virus outbreak that wasn’t much understood, it was a risk to travel back and forth to work. Among other things, my employer wanted me to move in. But there was no way I could stay at my employer’s home and leave my son in someone else’s care, so I had to decline.”
Chakanetsa says a trader in the street can make about R250 a day, while over weekends this can increase to R700 a day. She hopes to see herself growing from a vendor in a shopping complex in Alexandra to something more permanent that would attract a larger number of clients.
Informal trade is a huge part of SA’s economy, yet it fails to get the recognition and support it deserves. According to the Helen Suzman Foundation, for many South Africans, informal trade is the “alternative to unemployment” amid the high jobless rate.
Stats SA’s latest quarterly labour force survey shows 2.5million people either own these businesses or work in the sector. With this in mind, informal traders should, according to the SA Local Government Association, be viewed as an “important part of the government’s strategies to address unemployment, support livelihood creation and reduce vulnerability”.
On the Saturday the riots began in earnest in Gauteng, Chakanetsa and other vendors heard gunshots at the nearby Pan Africa shopping centre, forcing them to close early. Early on Sunday, she received a call from a fellow vendor to view the damage caused to the place where they kept their stock.
“I arrived there and everything we owned was gone. I just stood there and cried,” Chakanetsa says. “I lost close to R30,000 worth of stock.
“But I had to pull myself together as I quickly realised that there was nothing I could do, and crying surely wouldn’t solve anything. I only learnt of what was going on when I returned home and turned on the TV.”
The unrest, which began sporadically in KwaZulu-Natal, spread to the country’s economic hub, Gauteng. Widespread looting and vandalism took place across both provinces, while protesters blocked roads and set vehicles alight.
The unrest was substantial in terms of income and jobs lost. The effect on confidence is also likely to be marked, says Investec economist Lara Hodes. “Informal operators are generally more susceptible to economic shocks like Covid-19 and the recent unrest than those in the formal sector as they have limited access to financing and are generally uninsured.”
The cost of the unrest to retailers and retail properties has been estimated at more than R20bn.
According to CNBC, about 50,000 informal traders and 40,000 businesses were affected, putting 150,000 jobs at risk, while about 3,000 stores were looted, 100 shopping malls suffered fire damage, and almost 1,200 retailer outlets were damaged.
The riots and looting impeded Chakanetsa’s ability to earn an income and support her child. As a vendor one lives from hand to mouth, she says, but at the end of the day, you do at least get something. The riots and looting took that ability away.
After telling her story in a group chat, Chakanetsa was able to get donations of clothes that enabled her to get her business back up and running.
Trading in Alexandra, colloquially known as Gomora, is not without its pitfalls, she says. Having to deal with thieves trying to steal their stock, Chakanetsa also has visions to some day move to the digital space where she can attract a larger customer base.
“There is a real problem for plus-size women, and women in general to get good clothing, more so at affordable prices. So integrating a digital strategy would be helpful.”
However, she recognises that the biggest challenge to getting into the digital space is a lack of skills and resources for her and her peers.
“I’m not very [schooled] in that department. Besides the looting, even during the Covid19 pandemic, one wishes to protect themselves at all costs by not being in physical contact with a lot of people, but you still want to get sales.”
A further constraint is that her customer base has been equally affected by the riots and looting, as well as the lockdowns, and is out of work.
“I think SA has potential for us to grow as entrepreneurs. All we need is the knowledge on how to properly run our small businesses, maybe in the form of training.
“As an informal business person like myself, I think the government should implement policies that make it easier for us
— regardless of a person’s nationality — because, at the end of the day, we are doing our part in building and contributing to the economy,” Chakanetsa says.