An Assessment of Informal Trading as a Livelihood Strategy Pre-and Post-COVID-19 Outbreak Era in South Africa

Description

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23498551

MS Malemela¹ and MM Selepe² (Department of Public Administration, University of Limpopo, South Africa¹ and Department of Public Management, University of Limpopo, South Africa²)

The study explores informal trading as a livelihood strategy during the pre- and post-COVID-19 outbreak era. The main objective of the study is to evaluate the livelihood strategies of informal traders in informal markets before and after COVID-19. The study adopted a desktop research approach relying heavily on secondary data. Livelihood strategy is defined as an activity or opportunity that households engage in to financially support themselves and their families. Informal trading before the outbreak of COVID-19? It was a prosperous and vibrant business. Informal traders were selling a wide range of products, and competition was limited. In the COVID-19 era, competition has increased since 80% of people who lost their jobs have joined the informal sector. Informally, trading posts the outbreak of COVID-19 has changed in such a way that most things are done digitally, such as online marketplaces, mobile payments, and social media marketing. The outbreak of COVID-19 has forced informal traders to adopt new technologies, regulations, and consumer behaviors to remain viable. During the COVID-19 outbreak, the number of informal traders increased drastically, and cities are now disorganized as informal traders have occupied all available space. Before COVID-19, people joined the informal sector to make extra money (livelihood diversity); however, after COVID-19, people joined the informal sector for survival. The study concluded with the impact of the outbreak of COVID-19 on informal trading, which resulted in practical implications such as social, political, and economic changes that citizens were forced to accept. Additionally, the lockdown protocols that were introduced in South Africa led to job losses, increased poverty, hunger, increased gender-based violence, and increased dependence on government assistance