‘Developing’ the Urban Informal Sector in South Africa: The Reformist Paradigm and its Fallacies

Wellings, Paul; Sutcliffe, Michael

doi:10.1111/j.1467-7660.1984.tb00195.x

Cited by 35 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…The association between the formal and informal sectors has also been explored in South Africa. There, research has highlighted the dominant-subordinate interactions by underscoring the fact that the informal sector should be conceptualized as a form of production and reproduction, with considerable stratification and discordant social relations, dependant upon, integrated with and subordinate to the capitalist mode of production (Wellings and Sutcliffe, 1984). Wellings and Sutcliffe have expressed skepticism about the reformist perspectives which fail to appreciate the asymmetric relationship between the formal and informal sectors.…”

Section: Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 98%

Characteristics, threats and opportunities of landfill scavenging: The case of Gaborone-Botswana

Rankokwane

Gwebu

2006

GeoJournal

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In Gaborone, as in other large cities in the developing world, individuals try to make a living by engaging in novel occupations such as landfill scavenging. This paper reports on a research conducted in the Gaborone landfill, the largest in Botswana. The study content-analyzed available literature from other countries. It also relied mainly on direct field observations. The discussions on and answers to closed and interview schedules by stakeholders, affected-and-interested -persons, provided the information on the threats and opportunities related to the landfill site and its informal management activities. This on-going case study lends credence to the potential of scavenging in sustaining livelihoods among those who cannot secure employment in the formal urban market. Scavenging tends to be useful although it may hazardous to the informal entrepreneurs. Taking all the threats into consideration, the decommissioning and closure of the landfill seems inevitable, in spite of the apparent short-term livelihood opportunities it provides to the informal sector.

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Section: Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 98%

Characteristics, threats and opportunities of landfill scavenging: The case of Gaborone-Botswana

Rankokwane

Gwebu

2006

GeoJournal

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“…During the 1980s, as in other parts of the global South, there was increasing recognition of the importance of informal economic activity in South Africa, among which shebeens were a prominent sub-sector (Rogerson & Hart, 1986;Wellings & Sutcliffe, 1984). With the transition to democracy in South Africa in the 1990s, State engagement to strengthen and transform the informal sector, so that it could contribute to job creation and poverty alleviation, became increasingly important (Rogerson, 1991).…”

Section: Economic Discourse Of Alcohol and Shebeensmentioning

confidence: 97%

Discourses of alcohol: reflections on key issues influencing the regulation of shebeens in Cape Town

Smit

2014

South African Geographical Journal

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Alcohol abuse is linked to a range of negative impacts, and, as a result, government bodies almost always try to restrict access to alcohol, through regulating where and when it can be sold. Cape Town, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, has a large number of unregulated alcohol outlets (known as shebeens), which have been the target of a number of policy-making and regulation attempts over the past decade. Three current main discourses of alcohol and shebeens in South Africa can be identified: the public health discourse, the economic discourse and the socio-cultural discourse. These competing discourses, particularly the first two, have underpinned processes to develop regulations relating to alcohol and shebeens, such as the Western Cape Provincial Government's new Liquor Act, and the City of Cape Town's new zoning scheme, resulting in incoherent policy-making processes and policies. A more integrated view is needed, which recognizes the social, cultural and economic importance of shebeens and alcohol, but also acknowledges that abuse of alcohol imposes a large burden on the State and society as a whole. More flexible regulations that can be negotiated at the local scale are also required.

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“…14 Third, many inputs purchased by the petty commodity producers come from the capitalist sector and many finished products and services are sold to capitalist enterprises. 15 Since the commodities are sold to capitalist enterprises below their value while the required inputs are purchased from them at prices above their value (as a result of monopolist protection and controlled access to institutional credit, contracts and licenses), there are large transfers of value from the petty commodity sector to the capitalist sector. 16 And fourth, as LeBrun and Gerry point out, 23 Downloaded by [University of Exeter] at 05: 38 15 July 2015 subordination of petty production to capital can take rnuch more direct forrns than those which opera te through the rnarket.…”

Section: Petty Commodity Production: What Makes It Viable?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual, Household and Cooperative Production: The Case of Salvadorean Refugees in Costa Rica

Basok

1993

Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies

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The article examines urban employment programmes for Salvadorean refugees in Costa Rica. lt compares two types of projects, individual or household workshops on the one hand, and coopera tive projects on the others. lt is argued that both face tremendous difficulties trying to compete with capitalist enterprises. However, a number of characteristics, including various survival strategies, make individual or household productive units more resilient. Cooperative projects may employ some of these "strategies" but their formal structures (often imposed by the agencies assisting refugees) make them inflexible and therefore less competitive. The article also draws attention to the importance of the analysis of internal aspects of production of small-scale enterprises making up the so-called "informal" sector. lt suggests that the "articulation" approach, which tries to explain the viability of such small urban business in terms of their role for capital accumulation in the capitalist sector, is reductionist.Résumé. L'article traite des prograrnmes d'emplois urbains destinés aux réfugiés salvadoriens au Costa Rica. Deux types de projets sont comparés: a) des ateliers organisés par des individus ou des familles, b) des projets coopératifs. Ces groupes de travai! éprouvent de grandes difficultés à entrer en cornpétition avec des entreprises capitalistes. Cependant, les ateliers semblent plus efficaces. La production y est organisée de maniere flexible. Elle s'adapte aisément aux conditions changeantes du marché. L'utilisation de «stratégies de survie» au cours des processus de production et de mise en marché, cornme le surtravail d'ouvriers mal rémunérés, d'apprentis ou encare de parents ou d'amis, et les divers emplois occupés par un même individu en sont des exemples. Les projets coopératifs peuvent utiliser ces types de stragégies mais leurs structures formelles (souvent imposées par des agences d'assistance aux réfugiés) les rendent peu flexibles et peu compétitifs. L'on considere aussi l'importance de l'analyse d'aspects spécifiques à la production de petites entreprises du secteur «informei>>. Nous suggérons que l'approche, dite d'articulation, qui tente d' expliquer la viabilité de ces petites entreprises urbaines à partir de leur rôle au sein du processus d'accumulation du secteur capitaliste, est réductionniste.The involuntary movement of millions of refugees in the developing world has posed new challenges to organizations providing economic aid. ln some countries refugees receive only emergency aid consisting of food, shelter, medicine, and clothing. When such aid is offered for an extended period of time two problems result: first, a drain on intemational resources allocated to foreign aid; and second, the so-called "dependency syndrome"

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‘Developing’ the Urban Informal Sector in South Africa: The Reformist Paradigm and its Fallacies

Cited by 35 publications

References 35 publications

Characteristics, threats and opportunities of landfill scavenging: The case of Gaborone-Botswana

Characteristics, threats and opportunities of landfill scavenging: The case of Gaborone-Botswana

Discourses of alcohol: reflections on key issues influencing the regulation of shebeens in Cape Town

Individual, Household and Cooperative Production: The Case of Salvadorean Refugees in Costa Rica

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