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The City of Johannesburg’s Informal Trade Unit will soon take the draft Informal Trader Policy to the public through its regional consultative workshops with leaders and trader associations. 

These workshops kick off in March and will continue until June this year. 

The Department of Economic Development started the process of formulating the new Informal Trader Policy by consulting with all trader and hawker associations in order to understand their requirements and historical problems.

The City is continuing its interactions with informal traders on what their needs and challenges are in order to better effective trading. This process also involved a comprehensive head count of traders per region.

By January of next year we will have procured our new permit system and will also be able to commence budgeting for new ablution facilities to service traders. The new policy, together with improved resources, will empower the city to support and regulate trading in a more consistent manner. The Informal Trade Unit, mandated to formulate this policy, will also plan and development trading areas, provide sustainable informal trader support and development, improve the regulation model, and continuously monitor and evaluate the system.

In April, by-law education workshops targeting informal traders will start across all seven regions.

It has always been difficult to accurately measure the size of the informal sector in the South African economy. Estimates put the informal sector at between 7 and 13% of the total economy. Given the unacceptably high levels of unemployment, the City of Joburg acknowledges the valuable role that the informal sector plays in providing large numbers of our residents with a means to feed themselves and their families.

This policy will therefore s​treamline the regulation, support and management of informal traders to enable them to run successful businesses and graduate from informal to formal status.

Media enquiries:
Andrew Stewart
Director of Executive Support: MMC for Economic Development
081 367 8861
andrewste@joburg.org.za