2 - Negotiated Economic Opportunity and Power: Perspectives and Perceptions of Street Vending in Urban Malawi

Abstract

It is least acknowledged in daily discourses that street vending is a very impor tant phenomenon. Little wonder that street vending involves negotiating for space in all its manifestations: physical space, economic opportunity and power. The vendors are coerced by both local urban and national authorities and sometimes the public at large to justify or negotiate acceptance. Very often such intentions are blind to the most basic and yet fundamental aspect that street vending is a pragmatic grassroots response to bleak socio-economic and changing political realities that have not of late spared anyone. Street vending appears in all fair ness a means to legitimate ends. Hence, access to vending spaces should be perceived as a human rights issue. Otherwise, intentions to the contrary over look the needs and capacity of street vendors to communicate, reorient and police each other in various and meaningful ways. Any discussion of the place of street vending in the urban economy of Malawi should therefore consider why and how individual street vendors become what they are - vendors. These perspectives can enrich our defective understanding and parochial pursuits of idealized versions of regulation that are hardly appropriate for a pressurized and underdeveloped country and also for a negotiated idea of the social consumption of space that we should alway aim at.

Can the state perpetuate the marginalisation of the poor? The socio-economic effects of the state's ban on minibus ‘callboys’ in Malawi

“…The growth of the informal sector in Malawi is attributed to several factors besides the availability of funds and the relaxation of regulations, such as unemployment due to the Structural Adjustment Programmes' related conditionalities such as privatisation, and retrenchment in the public sector (see Madziakapita, 2003;Jimu, 2005;Richards et al, 2006). To give an idea of the size of the informal sector, Richards et al (2006:24) observe that only 12 per cent of the total workforce in Malawi is in the formal sector; the remaining 88 per cent being either in smallholder agriculture or the informal sector.…”

Analysis of the Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Street Hawking: A Case Study of the Accra Metropolitan Area

“…This mode of urbanization is problematic for urban managers in such countries. It is generally observed that street hawkers often work outside the law, especially those associated with tax liabilities, labour codes and zoning regulations (Jimu, 2005). As a result, there exists an essential conflict between hawkers and city managers in their aim to ensure adherence to city management regulations.…”

“…Hays-Mitchell (1994) and Jimu (2005) noted that most investigations into this subject area have been in studies of informal manufacturing (Asiedu & Agyei-Mensah, 2008). This creates a gap in knowledge regarding the spatial dimension and modification of the urban landscapes by street hawking.…”

“…However, since street hawkers typically ignore local regulations and by-laws, the areas where they operate tend to be, generally disorganized (Gyamfi, 2000). Their non-regulation culminates in, unsafe and unhygienic conditions that city authorities deem as nuisance and unprofitable uses of the urban space (Jimu, 2005).…”

Social Capital in Dealing with Neo-Patrimonial Governance of Street Vendors

“…In almost all Asian countries, including Indonesia, street vendors have no legal status to conduct their business, and they are continuously harassed by the authorities [12]. Although street vending is a thriving and growing phenomenon [13,14], it experiences various problems of removal that undermines their livelihood and survival.…”