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The City of Tshwane and four informal traders’ associations in the City reached a historic milestone when they decided on a memorandum of agreement today which will see the parties working together for the first time in growing and developing the informal sector and improving the quality of life of informal traders.

City of Tshwane Executive Mayor, Cllr Kgosientso Ramokgopa represented the Municipality while the informal trader associations were represented by Life Makondo (President of Tshwane Informal Traders’ Forum), Philip Lethuba (President of Tshwane Informal Trader’s Council), Vincent Matjeng (President of Tshwane NAFCOC) and Strike Sebake (President of Tshwane Micro Entrepreneur’s League).

The parties agreed to take the draft agreement back to their members for scrutiny and final approval.

The agreement means the City and the associations will together deal with challenges that face the informal traders such as the lack of adequate amenities (sanitation and ablution facilities), insufficient demarcated areas for trading, lack of overnight storage facilities for the traders and congestion at designated areas which creates incredible competition amongst the informal traders.

This agreement is also in line with the City’s Growth and Development Strategy 2055 vision which is aiming to make Tshwane a liveable city which improves the opportunities for emerging entrepreneurs as well boosting efforts to create jobs.

Cllr Ramokgopa encouraged the representatives to organise themselves into a co-operative and a fresh produce market agency, and the City would in turn provide them with the trading space, training and managerial support. He said the informal traders contributed R600 million towards the Tshwane Fresh Produce Market’s R2 billion annual turnover, making them significant economic players in the local economy.

The City stated that it would get them on board in various projects such as the cleaning of the City and in the manufacturing and erection of the informal traders’ stalls in the different areas of the Municipality through cooperatives. The associations would also be provided with an office and computers.

He emphasised that they could also create formal job opportunities by becoming part of the value chain by getting directly involved in the packaging and storaging of their merchandise.

The City has set aside R10 million for the design and manufacturing of the street stalls, and it is envisaged that the informal traders would be directly involved in the project.

Cllr Ramokgopa said by-law enforcement would go ahead as a measure to get rid of illegal traders.

“It is important that the informal traders help in self-regulating themselves instead of leaving the function of by-law implementation to the Metro Police.

“Self-regulation will help to avoid any conflict situations between the traders and the Metro Police. In the first instance, there was never an intention by the Metro Police in the past to treat the informal traders harshly or penalise them, but rather to affirm them,” he said.

In reply and on behalf of the informal traders’ representatives, Mr Strike Sebake thanked the City and said their members were already excited about the new developments.

“Our members are very easy to please. They are very happy to be part of the economic development of the City and becoming part of its cleaning projects,” said Sebake.

It was also agreed that through its Economic Development Department the City would provide office space and trading markets for the accommodation of informal traders within the Central Business District (CBD), the Metro Police Chief shall ensure that the by-laws are fully enforced and statistical reports are presented at the steering committee meetings and that the funding of the projects will be done within the available funds in terms of the approved budget of Council.

Besides having a good, symbiotic relationship with its business sector, the City recognises the importance of business in working with it to deliver growth and further development. To this end, it remains committed to its mandate – of delivering core services that ensure accelerated and shared economic growth and broad participation by all our citizens.

In prioritising the strategic national goals of job creation and sustainable growth, the City continues to concentrate on the creation of growth-oriented SMMEs. Here, it acknowledges the importance of informal trade in the SMME sector, as it ensures the survival of large numbers of people who do not draw an income from the formal employment sector.