Life on Durban’s streets is tough, say street traders

A Durban business group says the municipality’s failure to drive tourism at popular attractions, such as its promenade and malls, and tolerance of inner-city decay has negatively affected informal traders.

Abantu Business Umbrella chair Nathi Mbatha said the city had degenerated badly over the years, and this had a knock-on effect on the broader society, including the informal sector.

He said that, despite meetings with the embattled eThekwini municipality to highlight the issue of informal traders at places such as The Workshop mall, the city had not kept its promise to improve the situation.

“It’s been four years now, and the traders are [still] working without valid permits. The previous mayor did not tackle the issue. To us, it felt as if he was OK with foreign nationals trading there,” said Mbatha.

“[Our problems are] a direct result of the growing foreign population. [Foreign traders] do as they please. We welcome recent bold steps the police have taken to [address] the current [situation],” said Mbatha.

The police and the provincial government recently embarked on an inner-city cleanup during which 120 people were arrested and various eThekwini buildings were raided. The authorities discovered drugs, counterfeit money, and buildings illegally occupied.

Mbatha said the dire situation had been worsened by the triple challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, the July 2021 unrest, and the recent floods.

He said the approach taken by the provincial police commissioner to fight crime and clean up the city aligned with their strategy and consultations with the municipality.

“Our towns are not the same as [they were when] we grew up. Durban has now seen a large influx of undocumented foreigners [who] outnumber local traders.”

Mbatha said the organisation had been championing the interests of informal traders since 2008, including during the pandemic, when their livelihoods were threatened.

The Abantu organisation has about 9,000 members — ranging from informal traders to small-, micro- and medium-sized enterprises — across the province, with the lion’s share in Durban.

He said the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) was facing similar challenges, with illegal dumping a serious issue.

“Some of us who work with Prasa have taken it upon ourselves to roll up our sleeves and help with cleanups. We want Prasa to work, and we have volunteered to do our bit,” Mbatha said.

However, he said their good intentions would not yield beneficial outcomes if the municipality did not do its bit as well.

He bemoaned how the growth of informal traders had put some people out of business.

“We need mechanisms [put in place] for informal traders to be self-sufficient. They need to be able to earn enough money for their children to be fed, and [for them to be able] to travel to and from work,” said Mbatha.

He said that, since Durban’s “gold mine” amusement park had been closed down, the area had become unattractive to investors and tourists.

“We no longer have Mini Town. Its miserable now — all you see are vagrants. At the end of the day, the municipality should take responsibility [for what has happened]. We want the city to come on board and work with us, as we also have solutions,” said Mbatha.

He said to improve the situation the city had to have strong investment coupled with an aggressive marketing strategy in partnership with stakeholders, including the informal sector.

Informal beachfront trader Makhosi Ntuli, 63, said she felt the city had neglected them.

“Things are not the same as they were. We can’t even buy food because of how tough things have been,” said Ntuli, who has been selling her wares on the promenade for about 30 years.

Ntuli said her income had helped her buy a house in Ntuzuma, but recently business had been bad, and she was not looking forward to the festive season.

Abantu’s chief operations officer, Noxolo Bara, said informal traders had played a crucial role in the economy.

“We should not be competing with them [illegal foreigners] for our daily bread. There are foreign nationals who have skills we do not have, and we support [those of] them. But in terms of basic necessities [such as] salons, hawkers and small taxi owners — those should be the preserve of nationals who make the economy work.”

She said they were pleading with local economic development agencies to partner with them.

“We are also asking for civil society to ensure informal traders have a seat at the table [when policy] decisions are made. We are making a call for all of us to come together, and we must talk about these issues,” she said.

The organisation said they welcomed comments by KwaZulu-Natal premier Thami Ntuli in which he expressed his support for the deportation of illegal foreigners.

“We [like it] that different spheres of government are talking in one voice, and that is the voice we have been trying to get out into the country. It is the sentiment of all the citizens,” Bara added.

Prasa’s stakeholder manager, Andile Mwandla, said he welcomed Abantu’s stance, saying it had also been confronted with the problem of illegal and undocumented foreigners in an area between Dalbridge and Berea, where they operated.

“We need to close ranks and curb this trend,” said Mwandla.