Download PDFStreet vendors in Johannesburg are not safe since they are getting robbed and when they report the matter to their nearest police station nothing is being done about their cases. Like a South African street vendor based in Johannesburg Simphiwe Ncube, decided to open a small business selling food. “I am selling food like pap, cooked chicken, and beef with vegetables,” Simphiwe said.
Ncube ended up selling food because she stayed for two years without a job after she completed her studies in Human Resource Management. She didn’t want to stay at home and do nothing, and with the high rate of unemployment, she started selling food in 2015 to take care of her two children and three siblings.
She sells food for customers that work close to her “kitchen” on 31 Prichard Street, near House of Movement where Khanya College is based.
“Since I started selling food my life has changed in a way that I never thought it would change. I am making more money than I had imagined.”
Due to getting robbed with no help from the police about their cases, they end up hiring men who do not work to protect them in the streets. But every time they get robbed, the men they hire find the criminals and take them to the police station, the police do nothing about those cases.
Ncube then added, “We are now organising ourselves to write a letter to the Office of The Mayor about the matter of the crime we are encountering.” Street vendors in South Africa must play a big role in making sure that they are safe, and they get the government to support their efforts.
This article was submitted on 1 July 2023. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
