Informal traders knocked

The informal traders and vendors operating in the Durban central business district were among the biggest losers from the riots and looting.

I visited what was one of the busiest streets in eThekwini, Dr Pixley Ka-Seme Street (formerly West Street) before it was cleaned up by NGOs and members of the public. It was a lonely experience. You hardly heard a taxi hoot. It was squalid. Almost all retailers were completely looted, many shops obliterated.

eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda has said 45,000 businesses in the metro are out of commission, and that includes 5,000 informal traders. The latter have been irreparably affected by the unrest, and as Kaunda stated, “a large portion may never recover from this upheaval”.

Some of the informal traders were already struggling as a result of a failed ANC local government. When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, the informal sector was among the hardest hit. Traders felt neglected by the eThekwini municipality even before the riots and looting.

Now, according to news reports, some traders face eviction for nonpayment of rent. One trader, Mam’Jabu, who traded at Durban Morning Market, said vending was her only means of putting bread on the table.

She was angry when I spoke to her, pointing out that though she pays for a permit to trade, the metro police still persecute her. She was repeatedly harassed and her products confiscated during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Though Mam’Jabu and other traders in the Durban city centre managed to close their stalls before they could be looted and they are back in operation now, they had to stop trading for a week as they feared for their safety and because stock was held up while the N2 and N3 were closed. This has had a severe effect on their finances.

The eThekwini municipality must not repeat the mistakes it made during last year’s hard lockdown; it must do better for informal traders. They play an important role in our economy, and the riots have drained the few resources they have.

Thakasani Khumalo

Durban University of Technology, eThekwini