2.6. INFORMAL ACTIVITIES/TRADERS
2.6.2. Migration and urbanisation
The size and scale of the informal sector is inherently difficult to achieve because of the rapid rates of urban migration. Although there have been numerous attempts to do so in developing African countries but they have been proven wrong in most attempts as urbanisation is on the rise. There have been certain elements of the informal sector existence in African countries. And the ideas of new emerging informal sector element were based on the notion of economic growth being involved with modern industrial developments (Becker, 2004). The concept of informal market operation is not a temporary matter owing to urbanisation and the high rates of expansion into this sector in developed and developing countries. Becker (2004, p. 6) explains that there has been information in places like Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa that justify the claims of high rates of non- agricultural employment in informal markets, ranging from 45-85 per cent of the total workforce in these regions. In many countries the informal sector has various beneficial
51 factors that sustain the unemployed and employed poor. These include the fact that the income is generally greater than the wages that the people would have earned in formal employment. The informal sector also comprises of old and new urban jobs and contributes a good share of the nations’ GDPs/GNPs (Mwasinga, 2013). On a global level the informal economy has been increasing and the phenomenon is becoming a norm for the poor, and their means of livelihood. Authors outline towns and cities as places experiencing the same emergence of informal activities and that this issue interrupts globalisation objectives to introduce more liquefied trading systems, allowing for informal spatial categorisations to be reduced (Ruzek, 2015).
The study acknowledges the relative and basic needs which are a necessity for the poor’s social and economic livelihoods in South Africa. It identifies the moral realities of informal economy’s operational patterns. Thus far this study has summarised the international issues that affect local systems and production, and pointed to key issues which influence the growth patterns of the informal sector. These issues generally affect women more so than men as women dominate the informal space (Chen, 2001, pp. 4-5; UN Habitat, 2004).
Becker (2004, p.1-10) qualifies this claim by stating that: “street vending is one of the largest categories of informal work employing women, especially in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America”. This is basically due to the fact that there is an increased number of independent women with dependents who are heads of households. Due to limitations, barriers to entry into formal employment and migration patterns, an alternative course of action is to enter the informal market as a means of employment and gaining income. The majority of the migrants are woman with children, who are neither educated nor skilled.
a) Migration
Migration patterns have increased over the years as transitional phases have emerged; from a means of production and the shift of concentration from the agricultural industry to a capitalist industry. Other influential elements of this shift are technological innovation in the agricultural sector and the effects of climate change (Sassen, 2003). This causes agricultural production to decrease, thus increasing labour competition within the capitalist system. The transition causes many people who are unskilled and uneducated to migrate into cities in search of employment, inevitably overcrowding the environment and shading the urban areas with informality.
The issue with this transition is that it has little benefit when it comes to investments, as mentioned previously. Globalisation ideology focuses investments into higher tier capitalist operators, and the majority of these are within the formal sector. The ideology behind globalisation attempts to use hyper mobility as a means to guarantee profit. Sassen (2003)
52 further adds that the migration patterns are evidential effects of the structural adjustment programmes of the 1980s and 1990s that were aimed towards developing countries’ social and economic welfare. These programmes obliged rural citizens to migrate into better urban environments (global cities) for a better livelihood possibility.
Positive and beneficial growth of the informal sector is also hindered by various exploitative settlements experienced by developing countries, such as exposing African economies to foreign goods, privatisation and public sector restructuring. Due to the lack of policy formulation for the informal sector and the lack of advocacy support, the informal economy experienced decreases in efficiency, control, management, etc. as the population in this sector increased. This was a response to the transition of the formal and informal market systems mentioned previously, which also affected the formal economy by minimising the employment capacity within the formal economy (Skinner, 2008).
Regional inequalities are also a major issue resulting from international migration caused by political crises. There are various countries that have experienced migration, and forced migrations are factors that are common in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Zimbabwe. These migratory events force citizens to enter into the informal market as a means of gaining an income (Liberia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia and Eritrea) (Landau, 2007). The SA government is trying to solve the problem of migration, although as in other countries the question of “how” still remains unanswered.
There have been various activities led by the government regarding informal operators’
activities, such as eviction orders (as in the case of Zimbabwe, ‘Operation Murambatsvina’) and harassment. There has also been evidence in research detailing the integration of the grounds on which the traders operated into urban plans, such as in the case of India in Bhubaneshwar, where vendors were incorporated into spatial planning frameworks (Muna Kalyani, Hod and Reader, 2016). The SA government is still concerned with the question of how to adequately incorporate the informal market into the urban fabric on a national scale.
b) Urbanisation
The absence of strategic spatial planning and a relative participation platform limits the implementation and establishment of new remedial planning frameworks. The challenge is also the changing nature of the informal economy in terms of structure, operation and functionality. The major issue with this systematic alteration of the informal economy’s nature is that it is occurring without a strategic guiding and evaluation tool. This makes it complicated to keep track of what possible solution might work, what has worked in the past, and what will never work in solving the issues related to the informal market. The role and
53 nature on the informal sector has become a discourse that requires the involvement of the private sector and governmental resource support (including: capital, policy formulation, assets, accessibility, protection, etc.), rather than government taking sole control of the matter (Skinner, 2008). There is a debate raised by Skinner (2008) based on a planning view point, which states that the urban poor is provided with services and goods by the informal economy and the quantity of such is appropriate. It also includes the forms of goods and service delivery, and the fact that the adequate delivery of services and goods occurs at strategic locations within the city.
Skinner (1999), attempts to reveal the basic ideologies behind the various dynamics that affect the informal market. On the economic side, individual incomes are considered to be relatively small, yet the production level contributes substantially to local economies. The social side should be considered as a political authoritative stance for the state in its democratic form, since the inclusion of the marginalised poor’s socio-economic needs were excluded in most developing countries’ previous colonial and exploitative systems (Skinner, 1999). The informal market challenges the spatial element of the city as urban public spaces such as pavements and open spaces are traders’ initial trading spaces, claimed by them as their informal work spaces (Dobson, Skinner and Nicholson, 2009). With the rapid urbanisation facing developed and developing countries, the limited public spaces available in urban cities are an issue that needs vigilant and direct attention. The influx of poor people occupying public spaces designed for reasons other than the operation of informal activities, as a means of employment, creates overcrowding and environmental degradation (Wapwera, 2013).
The concept of urbanisation as an issue challenges Skinners’ planning perspective regarding the informal market. The increasing numbers of informal operators within a confined space designated for a particular use, without management and a spatial policy framework, leads to congestion within the city and limits the efficiency of goods and services provided to the urban poor by the informal market. Competition increases and the level of exploitative trading increases. This creates more inequality and acts as a barrier to positive growth and expansion initiatives, challenging people looking for employment opportunities (Braun, Corrarino and Ma, 2011). The urbanisation issue is also interrelated with the existing governmental services which are provided as a basic necessity in the area. The infrastructure, facilities and resources provided increase in insufficiency as the population rate within the informal market increases (Pillay, 2008). The majority of countries’
governmental support for these areas has been fragmented and biased, and governmental approaches to informal trading in urban environments have been unmanaged. As a result of this the governments struggled to sufficiently regulate and address issues within the market.
54 Political transitions in various countries have affected the way that informal markets function, Skinner (1999) mentions some beneficial improvements for some informal operators. The governments in some developing countries take initiatives to incorporate informal trading into urban planning, establishing management departments and the provision of resources and services. The provision of resources includes the attraction of investments in urban strategies to benefit the poor within the informal environment (benefit them economically and socially). Nevertheless, there has not been a strong, sustainable and viable urban strategic framework that spatially configures the past and previous systematic informal patterns and designs. This issue is disadvantageous as some of the measures attract capitalism at the expense of the poor and employ exploitative paradigms.