The policy we want: An economic policy for informal traders in South Africa
Date
2025-04-04
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of the Witwatersrand (Southern Centre for Inequality Studies)
Abstract
In 2024, SCIS, in partnership with WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising), embarked on a research and policy project to develop an economic policy for informal traders in South Africa. The project gathered insights from individuals actively working in the sector, offering valuable perspectives for policymakers and stakeholders seeking to improve the conditions of informal traders and strengthen the informal trading economy. Based on these findings, we identified actionable policy recommendations to help create a more conducive environment for informal trading. The results are presented in a policy brief structured around eight key pillars, titled “The Economic Policy We Want.”
Description
An economic policy for the informal trading sector is urgently needed. In current times, the informal trading sector – which has existed globally for decades – has generally been viewed as a target for control and regulation, and not as an embedded part of the economy that offers employment and income opportunities to economically marginalised people. Policymakers’ formal recognition of the sector as a source of livelihood would elevate it and provide more certainty in the lives of hundreds of thousands of traders in South Africa who rely on it for their income. Being a sector largely dominated by the economically marginalised, the informal trading sector urgently requires an economic policy that ensures inclusion and sustainable livelihoods for those working in it. This type of policy will assist South Africa in reducing poverty, unemployment and inequality.
Keywords
Informal traders, Informal sector, South Africa, Policy, SCIS