Document: The Business of Survival: Informal Trading in Inner City Johannesburg

Throughout South Africa, municipalities are grappling with the management and regulation of informal trading, particularly in the large urban metros. In the inner city of Johannesburg these tensions are palpable, as the City of Johannesburg’s attempts at managing and regularising street trading are at odds with the harsh realities facing traders. After a period of rapid deregulation in the 1990s, precipitated by the Businesses Act 72 of 1991, the City’s current approach is one of re-regulation of informal trading and the removal of street traders from the streets and into formal markets and malls.  

This report attempts to draw together the different agendas, tensions and perspectives of the various stakeholders involved in informal trading in the inner city of Johannesburg, with the view to provide a holistic view on the situation and offer some recommendations on a way forward.