8 July 2016

The South African Informal Traders Alliance (SAITA) will be hosting a National Day of Action march on Wednesday, 13th July 2016. The action is to dispel the ill-held myth that informal hawkers are but of nuisance value, a perception created as a result of unjust socio-economic profiling.

The informal economy is neither a new phenomenon nor is it a creation borne out of desire. That would be an aberration of the truth. We are the first line of defense in a continuous battle against joblessness, hunger, poverty and despair. We could justifiably claim to be of the largest job creators in the country.

Our constituency stretches across the length and breadth of this country and incorporates persons in street/market trading, as well as spaza-shop operators, small-scale fishers, home-based industries, backyard enterprises, waste pickers and other micro industries omitted from formal business institutional norms and practices. School-leavers, the retrenched, the aged, youth, asylum-seekers, refugees, and all those unable to locate work within the formal corporate and public sectors migrate to the alternative economy.

Every 20 years there is a United National Conference on Housing and Sustainable Development (known as HABITAT). The United Nations General Assembly decided to convene, the Habitat III Conference to reinvigorate the global commitment to sustainable urbanization, to focus on the implementation of a “New Urban Agenda”. And the next conference will be held in Quito, Ecuador, on 17-20 October 2016.

In preparation for this, an international campaign called “The City We Need” has been started. We will send the demands of our national “The City We Want” campaign in South Africa to those allies preparing for HABITAT III, so that they can become part of the international New Urban Agenda to be adopted at HABITAT III.

The National Day of Action will be held in the following cities:

In South Africa, from restrictions of movement to regulation of economic activities, cities have a list of bye-laws that effectively limit economic development for the poor and encourage evictions. It is time for our voices to be heard, and to make our demands for The City We Want.

We call on all Informal workers, traders, hawkers and those working from their homes and backyards and the media to join the march.

For more information contact:

Cape Town: Rosheda Muller – SAITA Acting President: 078 765 1737
Durban: Mankinto Ngobo – Ubumbano Traders’ Alliance Chairperson: 083 489 7283 (Zulu)
Durban: Asha Moodley – R2K KZN PWG Member: 078 162 4263 (English)
Port Elizabeth: Sorraiya Ahmed – SAITA Deputy Secretary: 078 398 1734
Kimberly: Thusi Jackals – 076 022 3290
Polokwane: Madikoto Samuel Mampapatla – 072 460 7668
Bloemfontein: Maneo Mgwadleka – 072 093 6189
Nelspruit: Makwakwa Siphiwe Patricia – 073 668 0406
Mthatha: Fundile Jalile – Eastern Cape Street Vendors’ Alliance President: 083 574 1129