‘Competitors or Business Colleagues?’: Central Johannesburg Managers/Owners of Formal Businesses’ Perceptions of Informal Trading

Abstract

This article looks at how owners/managers of established businesses in central Johannesburg perceive informal trading in the city’s CBD. Data were gathered using semi-structured interviews and the questionnaire. It was established that the majority of the owners/managers of formal businesses have negative views of most aspects of informal trading in the CBD such as the competition it creates for their businesses and the social ills it attracts. However, some of them expressed appreciation of some benefits that informal trading brings to their businesses such as the fact that sometimes informal traders patronise formal businesses for wares that they go on to sell and the attraction of customers to Central Johannesburg. In keeping with Johannesburg’s claim to be a world class African city, the paper recommends the strengthening and implementation of policies regulating informal trading to tame the informal trading jungle characteristic of some parts of the city centre.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n4p206