by Farouk Chothia (Date: 94.08.12); posted on Openair-Market Net on 11/14/95
This article is reproduced with permission from the Electronic Mail and Guardian. The Electronic Mail&Guardian is an offshoot of the once-banned weekly independent South African newspaper, the Mail&Guardian. The Mail&Guardian was the first paper in Africa to be available over the Internet -- in early 1994.
To South African Internet Community: Openair-Market Net would appreciate receiving e-mail updates on the Self-Employed Women's Union of Durban.
-- CRAFT vendors who display their wares on Durban's Golden Mile, the
sangomas who scatter dead pigeons on the city's bustling pavements,
the dress-sellers who shout their prices on street corners -- these
women are all members of one of the country's newest unions, the
Self-Employed Women's Union (Sewu). Muti-seller Zodwa Khumalo
is Sewu's vice-president. Sitting with a mortar and pestle to crush wood
for her medicines, she remarked: "Let the women be on their own.
We want them to learn not to be afraid when men speak."
-- Sewu's members hail from northern Natal and the former Transkei
homeland. They have settled in Durban, just like others in their
families have done before them, to eke out a living on the
beachfront, in Russell and West streets and in Block AK, an informal
trading centre near Greyville race-course. Some live in single-sex hostels,
but for many, home is the pavement, where the women sleep in turns,
some staying awake to fend off muggers and rapists who wait to strike.
Daytime is no different. Rain destroys their precious goods; self-
styled rentlords demand cash for pavement sites -- and, before the
change in government, police would hound them off the streets.
-- Against this backdrop, Sewu was launched last month with the aim of
helping the women improve their working conditions.
Khumalo has plied her trade in Russell street ever since her husband
died four years ago. Now 50 years old, she said the women would
welcome the market the city council is considering building for
informal traders. "We will have toilets. We will have shelter for our
goods. Maybe even a creche for our children. But the market must be
at a good spot where our customers will come -- near the taxi ranks
and train stations. Otherwise, we will get no business," said Zodwa.
-- One of the prime-movers behind Sewu's formation was Pat Horn, a white
woman who cut her teeth in the Chemical Workers' Industrial Union
(CWIU). Now Sewu's secretary, she said: "Individuals cannot resist.
As a group, they can be empowered. The women think they have no
rights. When you talk to some of them about rights, they laugh."
She related the experience of Sewu's president, Mankinto Ngcobo (49),
who, along with two other women, was assaulted, allegedly by a
tourist, on the beach-front recently. A craft-vendor since she was
11-years-old, Ngcobo was allegedly punched, leaving her with a blue-
eye. "The women accept this type of humiliation because they are afraid
they will lose their livelihood. We eventually persuaded Ngcobo to
lay charges of assault with the police but the other two women still
refuse to do so," said Horn.
-- Another serious problem was street sellers being raped. "Our members
reported a rape that had occurred in the Block AK area recently. We
are trying to contact the woman to see how we can assist. We intend
to take up the issue of rape strongly," said Horn.
-- The women are organising themselves: on the beachfront, for instance,
there is now an elected "trade committee" which attends to grievances
and holds report-back meetings. The union's membership stands at 251,
with more then half the members -- 141 -- coming from the beachfront.
-- The union also recruits "home-based" women. One of these is Patience
Mahlaba (41) whose story bears testimony to the womens' survival instinct.
Fired by her employer two years ago for failing to report to work
because of political violence in Umlazi's shack settlement, she and
other women formed a co-operative, sewing dresses.
After a fresh wave of violence swept through the township, the co-
operative folded. Undaunted, Mahlaba restarted it in Umbilo, a
predominantly white business area. But the co-operative had a major
problem, however: no customers. With the help of Sewu, negotiations
to give the co-operative a market site at Durban's Snake Park on
north beach were successful. The market operates between
8pm and 5am in the first half of the month, targeting passengers
who disembark from buses arriving from Northern Transvaal and Swaziland.
-- Horn said the problem of a shortage of customers would not disappear,
as the trade was saturated. "Our challenge is to address the structural problem
(and) to get the women to diversify into non-traditional areas, like carpentry and
electrification," she said. Sewu is now negotiating with the Khuphuka
Skills Training and Employment Project to run part-time classes for
Sewu members. "Many of the women are eager to learn such non-
traditional skills in order to obtain employment in RDP building and
electrification programmes," added Horn.
-- On the beachfront, craft-vendors complain of business falling off.
They say it's because white holiday-makers avoid Durban now that its
beaches have been desegregated. Some of Sewu's beachfront members
have now obtained financial loans from the Get Ahead Foundation
which assists small traders. Ngcobo said: "We formed a group of
five and the Get Ahead Foundation gave us R3 000. We divided
the money equally amongst ourselves." The women have to re-pay
R55 a month over 12 months. Total interest charged on the loan is
R160. Ngcobo has no objection to paying interest. "We can do
forward-planning. We now have the money to buy more when a
busy month is coming," she said.
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