Trading Rights: - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Trading Rights:

The formal and informal regulation of Somali migrant traders in Cape Town

Vanya Gastrow

African Centre for Migration & Society

University of the Witwatersrand

vgastrow@gmail.comSlide2

Aim

Focus on regulatory experiences of foreign traders in Cape Town, to inform current debates around informal trade regulation.Slide3
Slide4

Grievances against

‘Asiatics’ (Transvaal, 1921)

They send their money out of the country instead of spending it where they earn it.They are a source of danger to the public health owing to their unclean habits,

and

require

constant supervision to make them conform to sanitary and other bye-laws.

Their

standard of trading and methods of business are different to those of

Europeans

i

n

the following

respects:

the

owner of the business and his shop assistants all usually reside on

the

premises,

They

evade the laws regulating hours of

trading.

They

habitually give short weight and adulterate

foodstuffs.

They

thus succeed in underselling European traders.

They

carry on businesses which should be carried on by Europeans, and

close

avenues

of employment which should be open to Europeans.

They

produce nothing in the Transvaal, and do not consume the produce of

the

country

, but import their requirements from India.

They

form

“rings"

to keep out European competitors.

Their

religion, language,

colour

, mode of thought, ideals, manners and

customs

are

entirely different to those of

Europeans;

they cannot be assimilated

and

their

presence is a menace to European supremacy

.Slide5

Claims of the ‘Asiatics

’ in TransvaalE

ntitled to the same rights as aliens from Eastern and South Eastern Europe, who are regarded by many South Africans as less desirable citizens than Asiatics

.

They have benefitted

the European

community:

by

penetrating outlying districts where European traders are unwilling to

go.

by

saving Europeans from

being impoverished

through

the methods of business adopted by certain alien

traders.

by

catering for the poorer class of whites, and selling the necessaries

of life

in

small

quantities

and at low

prices.

by

habitually rendering financial and other assistance to

these

poorer classes when

that

has

been

refused by European

traders.

by

giving their customers better terms

for

payment

than

th

e

alien

traders who

are their chief

rivals

by

keeping down the cost of living through their keen competition.Slide6

Recommendations of the Commission (Transvaal)

Segregation into ‘Indian bazaars’. New business licenses only awarded in demarcated Indian bazaars.Slide7

Regulation of Somali trade in Cape Town:

2006 - 2014Slide8

Laws regulating Spaza

tradeUntil recently townships zoned in terms of the

Black Communities Development ActBCDA permits house shops (therefore no zoning requirements)Business Act license: must comply with by-laws, and health and safety laws.Slide9

2006 – 2012: Era of informal trade agreementsSlide10

SA traders grievances

Low prices = ‘unfair competition’

Location of shop in close vicinity to South African shopsNumber of shops (too many)Slide11

Agreements:

Masiphumelele 2006

Khayelitsha 2008Gugulethu and Philippi 2009Philippi East 2011Kraaifontein 2012Slide12

Elsewhere in Province and country

Western Cape:Mfuleni (Paarl)

Saldanha BayEastern Cape:Bishu

Motherwell

(Port Elizabeth)Slide13

Threats of violence:

Police were not always attending meetings – ‘they were coming one day, but not the next, we were risking our lives’.

‘If any Somali traders did sign the agreement ‘they signed out of pressure’.Slide14

Sibongile

Mbotwe, Advisor to Minister of Police

: The beauty of Khayelitsha post 2008 is this agreement. We must ask the Somalis to give an audit of shops in 2008 and we start from there. Then we go to the community and speak to them. We say we want to avoid 2008 and we therefore reached an agreement. The police will come and make sure the agreement is enforced in each and every community.

State officials and the law:Slide15

Questions to Advisor to Minister (Sibongile

Mbotwe):

Somali shopkeeper: Is it legal for an agreement to limit the shops of one minority group of people and not apply to other people?Chair of meeting: He is trying to side step the agreement so we are not going to entertain his question

.Slide16

Response of Competition Commission

Told media it would intervene if there was reason to suspect law was being breached – but never intervenedSlide17

Effect of agreements

Neo-apartheid solutionSouth African traders temporarily pacified.

Ineffective (not legally enforceable)Regular flare upsUnlawfulAnticompetitiveDiscriminatory

Undermine freedom of movement and right to seek employment

Allegations of corruption

Interests of consumers and other partiesSlide18

2012 – Decline of agreementsSlide19

2011 - 2014: Formal state responsesSlide20

2011 to 2012: Fining of Somali tradersSlide21

Local Authorities Act 19 of 1974Slide22

Reasons for fining

Address business robberies (see

2011/2012 SAPS police crime overview)Enforce informal curfews (linked to business robberies)Enforcement of informal agreements?Slide23

Accessing licenses

Sent to Gugulethu Municipal officesIssued informal trading permits at a cost of R150 per month

Informal trading permits are for trading in public bays, not on private property. Slide24

Accessing licenses: Information

Many city offices fail to issue licenses:Issued permits insteadTold traders they did not require licenses

Issued health certificates of acceptabilityThe City of Cape Town’s website Municipal offices and capacitySlide25

Fining: Abuse during search & seizure

AssaultArrestIncarcerationReporting crime

Tear gassingRobberies (weapon searches)Slide26

2013: City of Cape Town by-laws

‘The area used for a house shop may not open directly onto a bedroom or toilet

, and no goods which will be sold from the house shop may be stored in a bedroom or toilet’.‘The house shop shall not operate outside the hours of 07:00 to 21:00 on Mondays to Saturdays and 08:00 to 13:00 on public holidays or Sundays’Slide27

Licensing of Businesses Bill concerns:

Delegation of powers to municipalitiesWide discretionWide

search and seizureCost on businessesBusiness insecurity due to the need to continually renew licenses Effect on entrepreneurialismSlide28

Conclusion: when practice diverges from theory

Assist South African traders, yet in manners which are not discriminatory, unlawful and ignore the interests of wider parties.

Not only debate the content of laws, but also how laws can be abused and misapplied in practice, whether against foreigners or other vulnerable groups.Slide29

Thank You!

Vanya Gastrow

African Centre for Migration & Society

University of the Witwatersrand

vgastrow@gmail.com