Life on the fringes

Still to recover from the devastation of Covid lockdowns and all that followed.

- Ciaran Ryan

For many, the informal sector is a sanctuary from the alphabet soup of agencies that would like to regulate them that include the South African Revenue Service (Sars), the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) and municipal licensing authorities.

That lack of oversight comes at a price. Informal sector is a synonym for poor, a stigmata that debars entry to the formal sector aristocracy.

The government's professed concern for the poor does not extend to the informal sector.

We saw this during Covid when it offered financial support for small entrepreneurs provided they registered for tax, applied for municipal licences and signed up with the CIPC.

Needless to say, this was a hopeless failure, with just 12% of entrepreneurs surveyed by the Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF) willing to take government money in exchange for government intrusion.

Tens of thousands of businesses quietly shut down and signed up for government welfare.

Some of the best data we have is from the SEF, which extends micro-loans of a few thousand rands to assist "micro-entrepreneurs" to purchase stock and basic supplies.