Access to the Township Economy A comparative study of the spaza shop sector in the City of Ekurhuleni Townships Tsakane and Duduza

Abstract

2024 marks 11 years since the Duduza community forced out Somali spaza shop traders from Duduza and it is exactly 11 years of continued gatekeeping from a collaborative informal relationship between the business community, township associations and some state actors. While the state actors and non-state actors may not take the credit for chasing Somalis out of Duduza they take pride in their informal governance systems and agreements they have kept Somalis out of Duduza. This research questions the role and power of state and non-state actors in Township informal governance. The concepts of “informal governance systems” and “gatekeeping” were used to guide this research to respond to the question of access. The study employed a qualitative approach as it is interested in understanding the cause for the variations in on the two townships. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and participant observation. In the initial stages of the research, the snowball sampling was used to identify participants with leads. These two participants were able to refer the researcher to key state and non-state actors in Duduza and Tsakane. The findings of the study reveal the existence of two cartels, a cartel that facilitates gatekeeping in Duduza and a cartel that runs Somali spaza shops in Tsakane. The Duduza business community, associations and some state actors have created informal rules of trade that prohibit Somali spaza shop traders from trading in Duduza, on this other side, Tsakane appears to have a more relaxed approach to trading rules. Access into the Duduza township economy is controlled and protected through informal systems of governance. Through the informal systems of governance, the business community, associations and some state actors in Duduza exercise the power to agree on trading rules and other rules to govern the township. While the trading rules are said to be binding to all who wish to trade in Duduza, they also appear to be stricter on limiting access to Somali and Bangladesh spaza shop traders because of their history in the township. Lastly, the Somali spaza shop cartel that runs the Somali spaza shops in Tsakane is sustained by various pillars i.e. strategic placing of spaza shops which enables its expansion and prevalence in Tsakane.