Informal traders are vital to boosting our economy
In a time of anxiety, industry has proved to be resilient and awards are testimony to this
ON THURSDAY evening, November 19, I was honoured to attend the Western Cape Informal Traders’ Coalition inaugural recognition awards hosted by the coalition.
At a time when our country is facing a great amount of anxiety and economic troubles, it is fitting that we honour the role players and the informal traders.
For many decades, informal traders have provided for their own livelihoods, put food on their families’ tables, put food on all our tables and contributed significantly to our economy and GDP.
The informal trading sector has been overlooked for many years but it has proven itself to be a resilient and self-sufficient industry where traders and role players like the Western Cape Informal Traders’ Coalition have carved their own market and success.
As we like to say in Cape Town, “ons maak a plan”. There have been many obstacles but the awards evening was a celebration of informal traders overcoming those obstacles and the achievements they have made.
Every Capetonian and people across the country know an informal trader… we have passed their stalls in our communities, we have bought a nice avo, pack of tomatoes or flowers for a bargain and negotiated a nice price.
The “brokers”, as we have known them as for many years, have been the friendly aunties and uncles sitting in the streets, rain or shine, to provide for their families and provide a muchneeded service to the people of Cape Town and the country as a whole.
Informal traders have always understood the need to be fair on the pockets of community members because “almal sukkel mos” and they would give you a good bargain with your fruit and veggies. We all remember the Parade and Green Point Stadium over the years and how you could get all your shopping done on the parade for food, clothes, household items, even “kruie”, all the old herb remedies for sicknesses.
For families who couldn’t travel to the main shopping centres, we could take a walk down the road to the house shop or the stalltjie on the corner to get a pocket of potatoes or onions for the evening’s supper.
What we have always overlooked is the initiative and the drive of the informal traders who did not wait for a handout or wait for someone else to give them a job.
Informal traders made a way, and I have great respect for people who are brave enough to say “I will do this for myself and by myself”.
“En nie lank daarna nie, dan gee ons vir iemand anders ook ‘ n job by die stalltjie.”
At the awards evening, I applauded the informal traders for their perseverance in being part of this sector and providing a good service to our people.
Often big businesses overcharge people for food because they have overheads to cover but at a stall you know you can get a good bargain and we must support our community-based businesses and community business owners.
I pay tribute to all informal traders for making sure our pensioners, single mothers and all our vulnerable communities can get what they need for their families at a good price.
The success of this industry was recently displayed in the latest quarterly labour statistics released by StatsSA just last week which revealed the following:
In the third quarter of 2020, the unemployment rate increased by 7.5% to 30.8%.
But this is what is impressive and worth noting: employment increased in all sectors in quarter 3. In the formal sector, employment increased by 2.4% and in the informal sector by 7.7% – 176 000 people.
The same can be said for other quarters. In the second quarter of 2019, in July, StatsSA revealed that employment in the formal sector and private households declined by 49 000 each, while the informal sector on the other hand recorded an increase of 114 000.
Statistics showed that South Africa’s informal economy contributes 18% of GDP and that it is outpacing the growth in the formal economy at a staggering rate. The African Development Bank estimates that the informal sector contributes about 55% of sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP and 80% of the labour force.
According to Statistics SA, the informal sector accounted for 5.2% of South Africa’s GDP in 2015 and employed more than 2.6 million people – 17% of all employed in 2016.
Other estimates place it as high as 15% to 18% of GDP, as mentioned earlier. That is the power of the informal sector… that in a constrained global economic climate this sector has shown how resilient it is and how it can rise at a greater pace than the formal sectors.
Another aspect which is so vital to our existence is the role of the informal sector in food security. That is making sure South Africa has food to survive. Adequate access to food in poor communities is not through supermarkets alone as day-to-day fresh produce is frequently purchased from informal vendors.
We all know how you can buy a few potatoes and a cabbage at your local vendor with a small piece of meat to cook in a big pot so you can share with your neighbour as well.
When I became the mayor of the City of Cape Town, I started the Mayor’s Market at the Civic Centre – not out of charity but because I saw what it did to stimulate diversity in a city with lots of tourists. Also because I knew how much it meant to those who ran stalls, for their dignity and ability to feed their families – and therefore as a contributor to the economy.
One of the inequalities we don’t often speak about is how many supermarkets there are in the suburbs compared to in communities of colour.
Food security studies have shown that high-income areas have eight times as many supermarkets per household as those in the
lowest income areas.
There simply isn’t enough penetration supermarkets in townships in South Africa.
During the early stages of the Covid-19 lockdown that forced residents to purchase fresh produce only from supermarkets, there was a failure to take into account the significant role that informal markets play in food supply for low-income families.
Supermarkets do not provide credit when money is in short supply. They do not unbundle bulk packaging so that smaller, affordable quantities can be purchased and they are not easily accessible to the majority of residents.
It is urgent that towns and cities recognise the role that informal markets and informal traders play in providing access to food, especially high nutrition foods like fresh produce.
Our towns and cities must immediately implement an efficient and quick process to provide the required written permission and permits for informal traders to trade food supplies.
We must do more to support this sector and get more vendors on the streets across the country in a formalised manner so that they can be a bigger part of rebuilding the economy, ensuring food security and providing much-needed goods and services for our vulnerable communities.
Not only does this sector make a major contribution to our GDP and job force but it adds to the culture, vibrancy and sense of community in our cities.
The informal economy has grown because it is no longer only about fruit and veggies, it is also about flea markets selling locally produced crafts and other goods, it’s about hairdressers and barbers, spaza shops and street food stalls.
Organisations such as the Western Cape Informal Traders’ Coalition and the South African Informal Traders’ Alliance are crucial to the success and support for local vendors and business owners in the informal economy.
They have done great work in advancing the informal economy and bridging the divide between the informal and formal sectors of the Western Cape and more must be done to support them.
In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, they have shown that they will not be deterred in their mission to celebrate and advance the contribution and role of the informal trading sector by hosting the inaugural awards.
Informal traders are extremely important to our economy… let’s support them and pay them the good prices they are offering us so that they too can sustain their families. of