Coalition of street traders in Johannesburg, facilitated by COSATU: Position on street trading I. Street trading management ­ Nothing for us without us! 1) More participation of street traders into decision making and management of street trading is needed: a. participation at city level into policy decisions and by‐laws amendments; b. participation at area level into implementation and management plans 2) Joint management of street trading (city & traders) and/or self management by traders (at local level) need to be explored. 3) Self management for instance could mean the creation of a company/ cooperative where street traders would pay a service fee, to cover: a. Municipal tax b. Cleaning and security services c. Training programmes d. Loan/ solidarity fund Such a company / cooperative would need to be seriously monitored to avoid corruption issues/ mismanagement of funds. 4) There should be in each trading area/ precinct a liaison office where problems could be solved at a local level by a joint City‐traders committee. 5) The current engagement with the City (DED) through the informal traders forum is to be applauded, but needs to be improved: a. DED needs to do monthly reports on its activities b. Budget and finances spent by the City on trading should be transparent c. Metro police needs to report on its activities d. DED cannot be judge and party – the forum should have a neutral facilitator 6) By‐law enforcement should occur only after management solutions have failed. 7) Impoundment of traders’ goods should be avoided. If it needs to happen (when all other solutions have failed), the metro police should issue a ticket so that the traders can reclaim their goods and/or testify in court. 8) We need a comprehensive identification system as part of street trading management (for example smart cards), but two sorts of issues needs to be addressed: a. Corruption of the system b. Who decides on the attribution of smart cards? (some participation of traders in these decisions should be planned) 9) Lease agreements should be protecting traders instead of weakening them. One year lease creates uncertainty for traders. There should be an automatic renewal of the lease unless the trader does not comply with the agreed rules. 10) There should be different management rules for different trading spaces. For instance, for low density spaces, street trading should be free (unless someone complains about it). In high density areas obviously there is a need for regulation and management. 1 II. Making policies work better for a majority of street traders 1) The way public funding is spent currently for trading is not satisfactory because it is not transparent: a. Street traders do not know what is the budget allocated for street trading (DED, JDA, Metro Police). It would need to be presented in a written document to street traders b. Street traders do not know how the annual budget allocated for street trading was spent. It would need to be reported at the end of the financial year 2) The way public funding is spent currently for trading is not satisfactory because it is not participatory. They should be ways in which street traders and the City could discuss on priorities and budgeting, and jointly decide on how municipal budget on trading should be spent. 3) Currently the City seems to be spending a lot of its budget: a. On expensive beautiful stalls that caters only for a minority of street traders. Instead, traders would rather have a variety of stalls, some of which do not need to be very sophisticated (paint to demarcate stalls). b. On policing and repressing traders, which is not conducive neither to the street traders wellbeing nor to the city budget. Managed trading would save costs (policing) and earn the city more income (taxes/ rents, etc.) 4) Currently City policies only work for a few traders, and do not accommodate the majority of existing traders, nor cater for new entrants into the micro‐economy. The way this should be addressed is a. The City, traders and other players should define local solutions that accommodate all existing street traders – either on site or in alternative (but still business active) sites. b. Instead of building a few large / formal stores, the City, street traders and other players should be looking for local solutions that incorporate a variety of trading options (from demarcated sites to stalls, to stores, to linear markets, to spaces within existing buildings, etc.). c. The City, traders and other players (big business) should jointly (re)define and increase areas opened to street trading: i. Newly developed / developing areas – spatial planning frameworks or area plans should accommodate areas for managed street trading ii. Transport nodes (bus, train, taxi stations) should accommodate areas for managed street trading iii. Existing business areas that are currently prohibiting street trade should be reconsidered for managed street trading III.Developing street traders 1) Street traders would like training that is relevant to their needs. They should be consulted in what kind of training would be delivered to them. Onsite training would be helpful. 2) By‐laws should be better explained and communicated to street traders (especially when they change), through the use of a variety of languages and visual pamphlets. 3) Accessing loans remains an issue as the banking system still is reluctant to deal with street traders. Three ways forward: a. A form of policy regulation encouraging the bank to enter the sector; 2 b. training for traders to navigate the system and manage repayment; c. loan provision by self managed traders companies/ cooperative. 4) Training and mentoring on how to open and run a cooperative would be useful to traders. Not a once off training session but a continuous assistance until the time cooperatives are well and running. 5) Infrastructure / facilities needed by traders vary. Minimally there should be spaces for storage; for ablution; for health. 6) Services that are the most needed are security and cleaning services. These could be provided by the City and/or by the traders company/ cooperative. This position paper was prepared through a series of workshops (14, 20 & 26 September 2011), attended by a large number of Johannesburg street traders and street traders organizations, facilitated by COSATU. The technical committee mandated by the participants comprised the following organizations: ‐ Edmund ELIAS, South African National Traders and Retailers Alliance (SANTRA) ‐ Thokozile MASOEU, Block leader (Eloff Street) ‐ Zacharia RAMUTULA, One Voice of All Hawkers Association Facilitated by COSATU (George MALHLANGU & Petro MASHISHI), with the support of Wits Yeoville Studio. 3