Call for stipend to keep informal traders afloat

Informal traders want the government to give each of the estimated three million hawkers in SA a R3,000 stipend during the 21-day national lockdown as a way of helping them remain afloat.

Rosheda Muller, president-elect of the SA Informal Traders Alliance (Saita), said this would go a long way to ease the burden on hawkers, who are forbidden from trading during the Covid-19 lockdown period ending on April 16.

Muller told DispatchLIVE on Tuesday that families who depended on informal traders were battling to make ends meet during the lockdown, and the effects would still be felt long after the lockdown was lifted.

She admitted it would be difficult to distribute the R3,000, since most informal traders were not organised, but said they were working with  Cosatu to mobilise informal traders.

“We hope there's no more dilly-dallying from the president's side about the measures he mentioned last night. We hope a stipend of at least R3,000 for the 21 days should be given to informal traders through structured organisations and with the assistance of municipalities.

“We hope they realise the inequality that exists in our country between formal and informal business. The R3,000 stipend should be for someone recorded as an informal trader, who goes out there on a day-to-day basis and is now on lockdown,” she said.

Though he did not detail what the government's plans were when he addressed the nation on Monday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa said plans were afoot to help informal traders during the lockdown.

“We are particularly concerned about the impact of the lockdown on the self-employed and on informal business. We are currently developing additional measures to provide relief to them during this difficult time,” he said.

Muller said this was not good enough.

“We strongly urge the government to look at the informal sector with different eyes because now, at the time of this pandemic, we realise we are just numbers.

“But Saita will not stop in working for that relief fund to come to all vulnerable workers to help them during this period.

“The coronavirus has woken government up to realise that they are not doing what is best for their people. We concede that the coronavirus does not discriminate and potentially affects all of us, but in terms of the after-effects of this lockdown it's going to be devastating for our constituency.

“That solidarity fund is not for the informal sector. This shows that the most vulnerable people in the country are not being cared for,” she charged.

“If the government is able to source funds for failing SOEs, why can't it find the funds to keep the survival of the most vulnerable workers in place?”

Whether informal traders should have been classified as essential service workers and allowed to continue selling fruit and vegetables on SA's pavements has divided the nation, with some saying they provide the same service as supermarkets and others saying it is for their own health that they should stay away.

Muller said in India, informal traders were not only allowed to continue trading, but were educated on how to keep social distance and practise good personal hygiene.

“We believe the food traders, fresh fruit and veg should be allowed to go out there and ply their trade under healthy conditions. It is working out there [in India] ,” she said. 

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