8 March 2010

Demands to the Ethekwini Municipality

• We demand that the City clarifies the situation of informal trading at stadium after the World Cup, especially for those women traders who depend on match days to put food on table for their families.
• We demand that the city respond to the national government that recognises that attention needs to be paid to informal economy development instead of treating the informal economy as a nuisance. We have and continue to contribute to both the local and national economy.
• We call for our rights as women workers to be respected as our rights to livelihood are stated very clearly in the Constitution and for which we have struggled side by side with men for political as well as economic liberation.
• We demand that the city look at possible ways for more land to made available for markets to be developed to increase opportunities for street and market women vendors and for the existing markets to receive the attention they deserve, and their policies to be brought in line with the policies affecting hawkers and street traders as it is the same sector.
• Policies for social protection, infrastructure and services for the informal economy are a priority in order for the needs of the informal economy to be taken out of the periphery and moved into the mainstream.
• We demand that the city returns its attention to the rights based development policy and to abandon the policing approach where women street and market traders and hawkers are harassed and abused by the police and that a moratorium is put on any plans to which we have not agreed and for which no proper alternatives have been discussed.
• We demand that the Municipality develops a proactive approach to fight xenophobia before, during and after the World cup as this seems to be completely lacking. We demand that at least a Xenophobia Hotline be linked to the existing Women and Children Trafficking toll free number that is still to be widely popularised throughout the municipality.
• We demand that special attention be given to women living with disability with regards to developing opportunities that will use their skills and knowledge.

Compiled by the WCCA Task Team from presentations and testimonies from the workshop – posted 19 March 2010.