Chapter 10: Conclusion and Recommendations
6.5 INTERNATIONAL CASE STUDIES
6.5.2 Street Trading in Africa
85 percent of vendors in Mumbai complained of stress-related diseases like migraine, hyperacidity, hyper tension and high blood pressure. This is an indication of unhealthy working conditions.
A high proportion of participants joined the sector after losing jobs in the formal sector.
The majority of the traders are not organised. Where they are organised, they are able to enjoy better protection from harassment by authorities.
Men vendors are more unionised than women, and thus are able to protect themselves than the women vendors not unionised.
Food vendors sold cheap and nutritious food (Bhowmik, 2005: 2262-2263).
The establishment of the Self-Employed Women‟s Association (SEWA) has benefited most women vendors. The network assists in capacity-building of the women and also offers protection to street vendors from harassment by officials.
Of the seven cities studied by Bhowmik (2001), only Imphal had clear written rules for street trading.
57 percent of the street traders surveyed lacked fixed premises.
There is need to improve employment generation, income generation and the working condition of the street vendors.
The majority of traders live far from where they trade and as a result have to travel long distances on a daily basis. This has implications on their income.
Some of the findings of the studies are highlighted here (Mitullah, 2003, 2004):
The sector is highly neglected as it has always been viewed as a nuisance that undermines the healthy operations of a formal economy.
Most local authorities do not have proper records of street vendors in their areas of jurisdiction. As a result, the contribution of this sector cannot be clearly accounted for in the national economic statistics.
The sector contributes significantly to employment and economy in general.
For example, in Kenya, street vending is part of Small and Micro Enterprises (SME), which account for 70 percent of employment.
Most street vendors join the sector due to unemployment and lack of other sources of income.
Women join street vending later in life and continue trading until they are old, while men join street trading in their early years and leave to pursue other jobs.
The majority of the participants have low levels of education, although this has been improving over the years. In Ghana, Uganda and Kenya, for example, it was found out that the majority of the street vendors have formal primary education compared to Abidjan, where the majority of the vendors were illiterate or semi-literate. The situation in Kenya has been improving over the years: at least 33.6% of the street vendors have a secondary education.
Women dominate street trading.
Most people engaged in street trading are bread winners. This implies that trading is their source of livelihood, and their only option between starvation and a dignified life.
The study in Kenya revealed the linkage that exists between the formal and informal enterprises. It was found that most street vendors who sell high value good are in most cases just an extension of the formal businesses. They sell on behalf of the formal businesses but without the benefits of being formally employed.
Most of the participants have entered the sector as a consequence of retrenchment, landlessness and poverty.
The traders work abnormal hours yet the incomes are very low.
The traders provide good products at reasonable and affordable prices. This is a trend that has been observed in other Asian countries like Sri Lanka and Bangkok (Bhowmik, 2005: 2258-2259).
The traders do not have proper infrastructure and services such as waste removal, water, electricity, storage and shelter. They use different structures for displaying their goods like tables, racks, wheel burrows or even bicycle seats.
The majority of the street vendors are not organised. As such they work in isolation and have no one to defend their rights or set up effective communication channels with authorities. They are continually harassed by local authorities. It was found that even in a country like South Africa with a strong culture of worker organisation, the informal sector remains largely unorganised and receives very little support from trade unions.
There is much conflict between street traders and local authorities. While the traders focus on laws that recognise their rights to trade and thereby contribute to the economy, local authorities focus more on enforcement of health and safety regulations.
Most local authorities still use outdated policies and bylaws. As a result, they have even placed management of street trading in wrong departments, like Traffic and Enforcement Departments. Being former colonies of Britain, most countries still use controls that were aimed at making towns and cities safe and clean by prohibiting street vending. As a result, most countries are applying irrelevant and ineffective policies, and are therefore unable to even enforce them. Countries like Uganda, Zimbabwe and Ghana use outdated street trading bylaws. Even in countries where street vendors are mentioned in policy papers (Kenya), and are regarded as SMEs, the street traders are not targeted for assistance. The same concern has been raised in the case of South Africa.
According to Valodia, Lebani and Skinner (2005: 14), although the 1995 White Paper on National Strategy for Development and Promotion of Small Business in South Africa acknowledges the existence of survivalist enterprises, it is not clear how these enterprises (the majority of street traders), will be targeted for assistance.
Of the countries studied by Mitullah (2003), South Africa pioneered the move urging a more integrated approach towards the development of policies and regulations that affect street vendors.
There is insufficient dialogue between the local authorities and the street traders. This could (to a certain extent) be linked to the fact that the majority of the street vendors are not organised. As a result, street traders are not consulted when policies and by-laws that affect them are developed and therefore cannot make any meaningful input to ensure that their needs are considered.
Male traders can afford to invest in enterprises that require high capital. As a result they get more returns compared to women, who mainly engage in activities that require less capital and less profit.
75 percent of street traders in South Africa are breadwinners.