Media Statement: Public Discussion about the rights of Women informal traders

DATE: 17/05/2011

The Women Informal Traders Forum (WITF), a forum of women informal traders that was launched by women traders in August 2010 to fight for the emancipation of women traders in South Africa and the SADC Region, held a Public Discussion on Monday (16/05/2011) with representatives of political parties such as Democratic Alliance, Pan Africanist Congress, Inkatha Freedom Party and National Freedom Party.

As Women Informal Traders we have heightened our campaign during the electioneering period to raise awareness on our struggles and human rights violations. The long term goal of our campaign is to improve the working conditions of women traders and ensure an enabling trading environment for us. Through hosting a Public Discussion with politicians, we seek to put pressure on political parties and government to make commitment to address our demands and plight. Key amongst our demands during the campaign included:

§  A stop to confiscation of stock and reasonable rentals for all trading sites.

§  A stop to sexual and economic harassment of women traders.

§  Proper workshoping and reformulation of informal trading policies and by-laws to be gender sensitive.

§  Development and implementation of uniform informal trading by-laws and policies across the country.

§  Recognition and proper representation of informal traders at all government structures.

During the Public Discussion, a video, depicting the plight and everyday challenges of women informal traders from around Johannesburg Inner-city and surrounding areas was played. Thereof, representatives from various political parties mainly from Gauteng branches were given opportunity to react and make commitments with regard to our struggle. Below is the promises made by representatives from different political parties that attended the Public Discussion:

DA:

The representatives of the Democratic Alliance (DA) have shown interest in building relationship with informal traders. More specifically, the party promised the traders that it will do more to address their issues of allocation of stalls; health and environmental safety as well as studying trading by-laws that usually resulted in harassment of traders. After the municipal elections, DA further promised to seek audience with the Metro Trading Company (MTC), a company entrusted with the responsibility to manage informal traders in the City of Johannesburg. The party stated that it would invite women informal traders to meetings that it will hold with the MTC to explore solutions to resolving problems raised by the traders.

PAC:

The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) appreciated the role played by women informal traders and went further to call them entrepreneurs because they took initiative to create their own jobs. The party criticised government for not recognising the importance of developing and supporting the informal trading sector. It stated that unlike government who prefer to grow big business only, if voted into power it would respect and seek to develop a despised sector like informal trading. It view the informal trading sector as an alternative to creating jobs and believe that some of those in offices of power in government like Ministers, MECs, metro police etc where raised by women traders, who today they are not ashamed to batter. The promise made by the party was that after the elections they would engage the trading by-laws. They urged the informal traders and their association to choose a party that will be able to listen to their needs and comply with their demands.

IFP

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) emphasised that the ruling party has undermined the will of the people by continuing to develop and implement by-laws that still oppresses people like in the apartheid era. The IFP promised to resolve all issues of informal traders by lobbying for the closure of the Metro Trading Company. The party hold the view that most of the decisions regarding the management of informal traders are made by MTC, which has lost credibility because of its corrupt officials. The party promised women traders that their doors will always open and that more discussions about their challenges would be held after elections.

NFP

The National Freedom Party said that their leader who is a woman is very dear to issues concerning women, especially their safety and development. The party noted and appreciated the ability of the informal trading sector to sustain family livelihood and the contribution it makes to the country’s economy. NFP promised women traders that if they would be voted into power they will bring innovative ways to advance the businesses of all traders. Under NFP, women traders and all the other traders will be fully supported to increase job creation. For instance, the party will introduce mobile trucks for all traders, so that from time to time they are able to trade and move freely to areas with better business prospect

Kind Regards

Nokuthula  Dladla

Committee Co-ordinator: Women Informal Traders Forum

Press Statement on behalf of the SADC Solidarity Network of Informal traders

Stand Up Against Economic and Sexual Violence on Informal Traders

On the 5-6 of May, the Ecumenical Service for Socioeconomic Transformation (ESSET) held a consultation that brought together representatives of both local and cross border informal traders, Councils and representatives of Churches in the SADC region and civil society organisations concerned about injustices perpetrated against informal traders. The aim of the consultation was to explore joint campaigns by informal traders that would bring an end to all forms of economic and sexual violence against them.  The consultation ended with the establishment of a SADC Solidarity Network of Informal Traders. One of the goals of this network is to initiate and promote solidarity campaigns that are aimed at fighting injustices perpetrated against informal traders

As we came to the end of the consultation, we were reminded that struggles of informal traders are real. They affect real people who live in this real world that has become the real enemy of God. It is a world where women and girl children cannot live in freedom, as theirs is a world of abuse, rape and marginalisation. The news of the rape of a young girl, a daughter of one of the women traders who could not make it to the consultation came as a shock to all of us. This devastating news came even as we spent the two days deliberating on how we can support informal traders to put an end to all forms of violence against them, particularly sexual and economic violence. Such forms of violence come in various ways. Informal traders spend most of their time at work on the streets or across the borders, constantly dealing with harassment by government officials. These officials steal from them the little that they have through unlawful confiscation of their goods. These unscrupulous officials also demand bribes from poor people who are trying to make a clean living for their families.   Lack of recognition of the informal trade sector by most of the SADC countries has negative consequences for the countless numbers of people who depend on informal trade for their livelihood. This lack of recognition is seen in the absence of policies that support informal trade in most countries and the contradictory nature of the policies where they exist. Even regional integration that is supposed to play a major role in addressing poverty and inequalities excludes informal traders.

Women traders also face humiliation through sexual violence, including demand for sex or to be touched in return for safe passage through the borders or to escape stock confiscation. Sexual violence is a vicious act inflicted upon its victims bringing untold suffering and pain. No child or woman in this world should ever have to go through rape or any other form of sexual violence.

The SADC Solidarity Network is calling upon all of us and especially churches to rekindle their commitment to justice, by standing in solidarity with informal traders in their war against sexual and economic violence. If the sexual violence against informal traders is not enough to stir sufficient anger against social and economic injustices perpetrated against the poor, would we allow ourselves to be agitated enough by the rape of the defenceless little daughter of one of the informal traders? We are also calling on all our governments in the SADC region to stop ignoring this sector and begin to see it for what it is – an alternative that has for years sustained many poor families in the region.

Issued by the SADC Solidarity Network of Informal Traders

Tel: 0118331190              Email: info@esset.org.za