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In the face of struggling native-owned informal grocery businesses, immigrant-owned shops in Johannesburg townships have demonstrated remarkable success. While research on this topic has been primarily informed by shopkeeper data, this article explores the phenomenon from the viewpoint of customers. Given that customers play a significant role in facilitating the success of businesses, the dearth of a customer perspective of the success of immigrant shopkeepers presents a gap in knowledge. This study addresses this gap by investigating the interaction between shopkeepers and customers from the perspective of customers. Drawing on the theories of customer value and customer satisfaction, the author proposes that customers prefer to patronize immigrant shopkeepers due to the considerable value they provide. The study was conducted in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra and involved the collection of cross-sectional quantitative data from 400 households. The findings indicate that customers patronize immigrant-owned businesses due to the superior value they receive, thereby enabling their success. This research highlights the importance of providing value to attract customers and contributes to the literature on the role of customers in informal business performance. Furthermore, the study sheds light on the contribution of customer reciprocation of shopkeeper value and has important implications for policymakers, business owners, and scholars alike. It underscores the need for a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics underlying the success of immigrant entrepreneurs in South Africa's informal retail sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deepening levels of poverty in Zimbabwe have resulted in high numbers of Zimbabwean women migrating to South Africa in the hopes of securing better wages and job security. Most of these migrants end up working in the informal sector with limited income, high levels of insecurity, and a lack of protection against gender-based violence and xenophobia. Regardless of the adversities that these women encounter, they often display resilience and adaptability. Based on semi-structured interviews with 22 Zimbabwean migrant women, this article documents how these migrant women navigated some of the vulnerabilities and challenges they encountered. Instead of always being constrained by different structures of violence, this article unpacks the women's strategies to ensure their survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract South Africa’s major cities are periodically wracked by large-scale xenophobic violence directed at migrants and refugees from other countries. Informal sector businesses and their migrant owners and employees are particularly vulnerable targets during these attacks. Migrant-owned businesses are also targeted on a regular basis in smaller-scale looting and destruction of property. There is now a large literature on the characteristics and causes of xenophobic violence and attitudes in South Africa, most of it based on quantitative and qualitative research in the country’s major metropolitan areas. One of the consequences of big-city xenophobia has been a search for alternative markets and safer spaces by migrants, including relocating to the country’s many smaller urban centres. The question addressed in this paper is whether they are welcomed in these cities and towns or subject to the same kinds of victimization as in large cities. This paper is the first to systematically examine this question by focusing on a group of towns in Limpopo Province and the experiences of migrants in the informal sector there. Through survey evidence and in-depth interviews and focus groups with migrant and South African vendors, the paper demonstrates that xenophobia is also pervasive in these smaller centres, in ways that both echo and differ from that in the large cities. The findings in this paper have broader significance for other countries attempting to deal with the rise of xenophobia.

South Africa's major cities are periodically wracked by large-scale xenophobic violence directed at migrants and refugees from other countries. Informal sector businesses and their migrant owners and employees are particularly vulnerable targets during these attacks. Migrant-owned businesses are also targeted on a regular basis in smaller-scale looting and destruction of property. There is now a large literature on the characteristics and causes of xenophobic violence and attitudes in South Africa, most of it based on quantitative and qualitative research in the country's major metropolitan areas. One of the consequences of big-city xenophobia has been a search for alternative markets and safer spaces by migrants, including relocating to the country's many smaller urban centres. The question addressed in this paper is whether they are welcomed in these cities and towns or subject to the same kinds of victimization as in large cities. This paper is the first to systematically examine this question by focusing on a group of towns in Limpopo Province and the experiences of migrants in the informal sector there. Through survey evidence and in-depth interviews and focus groups with migrant and South African vendors, the paper demonstrates that xenophobia is also pervasive in these smaller centres, in ways that both echo and differ from that in the large cities. The findings in this paper have broader significance for other countries attempting to deal with the rise of xenophobia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whenever there are violent attacks on refugee and migrant businesses in South Africa’s informal sector, politicians, officials and commissions of enquiry deny that xenophobia is a driving force or indeed exists at all in the county. A new strain of nativist research in South Africa does not deny the existence of xenophobia but argues that it is an insignificant factor in the violence. It is argued that because South African and non-South African enterprises are equally at risk, the reasons for the violence are internal to the sector itself. This paper critiques this position on the basis of the results of a survey of over 2,000 enterprises in the contrasting geographical sites of Cape Town and small town Limpopo. The survey results reported in this paper focus on security risks and the experience of victimisation and the experience of the two groups of enterprise operator are systematically compared.

Comparisons between the informal business operations of South Africans and international migrants are increasingly common. The conventional wisdom is that survivalist South Africans are being displaced by entrepreneurial migrants with a long tradition of informal enterprise. This paper is the first attempt to explicitly compare the informal enterprises established by refugees and South African migrants in urban areas. The paper is based on a comparative analysis of over 2,000 refugee and South African informal enterprises. The stereotyping of refugees in public discourse as undermining and destroying South African competitors is far-removed from the reality. The idea that refugees have a competitive advantage as experienced entrepreneurs is also clearly fallacious. Refugees are extremely motivated, hard-working and dedicated, and employ a number of legitimate business strategies to achieve success.

The case-study literature on refugees and asylum-seekers in South Africa is dominated by an overwhelming focus on the problems they face and their marginalised existence, reinforcing an image of victimhood, exploitation and vulnerability. In this paper, we seek to broaden the image of refugees and their economic impacts beyond a narrow focus on their marginal status and vulnerable position. They are viewed here as dynamic agents with skills and capabilities who can play an integral role in transforming local settings and contributing to economic development. This paper presents and discusses the results of a survey of over 1,000 refugee informal business-owners in Cape Town and small-town Limpopo.

In April 2015, a Whatsapp text message instructed millions of African immigrants in South Africa to go home. The message drew on xenophobia and afrophobia to criminalise African immigrants in South Africa. Broadly, immigrants are seen as breaking the law by illegally crossing a sovereign border and becoming illegal foreigners. Having entered the country without authorisation (‘papers’), these foreigners become perceived as drug dealers, traffickers of children, squatters, facilitators/exploiters of an informal economy, and thieves stealing opportunities from South Africans. This article identifies three principle techniques of criminalising immigrants: 1) immigrants being compelled to purchase immigrant documents through illicit means to stay legally in South Africa; 2) the South African Police Service conducting raids such as Operation Fiela and arresting foreigners; 3) the South African Police Service, along with the Department of Home Affairs officials, illegally detaining immigrants. Together, these techniques contribute to the criminalisation of African foreign nationals. These techniques are increasingly characteristic of governance in the global south and explain how a Whatsapp message can reverberate throughout South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An important component of the informal economy in South Africa, the Spaza sector is portrayed as dominated by foreign nationals who outcompete South African shopkeepers on price. Indeed, this business competition from foreign nationals is a key reason given to explain xenophobia in South Africa. This article sets out to interrogate this widely held assumption. Drawing on evidence from over 1000 Spaza shops from South Africa’s three main cities, the article makes the case that business competitiveness does not correspond with ‘foreign’ or South African identities in a simple way. Firstly, while citizenship or nationality is a factor, it is not captured by the labels of ‘foreign’ versus South African, as there are significant differences by nationality within the ‘foreign’. Secondly, not all foreign nationalities out-compete South Africans on price. Thirdly, place matters too, not only because we find different nationalities in different cities, but also because there are different patterns of price competition by nationality in each place. Lastly, there are product-specific dynamics that impact on price more profoundly than nationality. For example, regardless of nationality, milk is cheaper in Cape Town and bread is cheaper in Johannesburg. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose/objective: The purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of the 2008 xenophobic events on the structure of earnings of street traders in inner-city Johannesburg and to provide recommendations to policymakers. Problem investigated: The xenophobic events of 2008 are well documented, but absent from the literature is the potential influence on the earnings of foreign street traders. This study investigates this influence through analysis of data from before and after the events. Design and methodology: The study applies an exploratory cross-sectional research design using data from three different samples. Mann-Whitney and Chi-squared measures are applied together with exploratory multiple linear regression analysis to generate insight into the relationships between earnings and differences by origin. Findings and implications: In 2009 the earnings structure of the sector changed. In 2008 and 2010, the earnings of foreign traders are higher, whereas in 2009 these traders earned less than local traders. It is argued that the xenophobic events might have resulted in a temporary restructuring of earnings. Originality or value of the research: This study makes a contribution through exploratory findings that document a change in the structure of earnings of foreign street traders. Conclusion: A change in the structure of earnings of foreign street traders occurred after the xenophobic events of 2008. Although association cannot ascribe causality, it is argued that this change may be related to these events.

In the past, the informal sector was habitually repressed by an overdose of regulation. More recently, governments across the developing world have relaxed many of these regulations. In South Africa, where the repression of the informal sector was extremely harsh owing to apartheid, such regulations have made way for some local policies -- but also a high level of underregulation. In cities where informal trade policies and regulations still exist, they are mainly orientated towards street traders, with home-based enterprises virtually being ignored. This paper investigates the infiltration of many non-South Africans into the informal sector by means of home-based enterprises known as spaza shops. It is argued that the lack of appropriate regulation has contributed towards this process. We evaluate perceptions and views of customers and South African entrepreneurs, as well as local government responses. Ironically, South African entrepreneurs call for a higher degree of regulation. Although some of the concerns raised regarding business registration and health hazards are certainly valid, we argue that these concerns arise from a xenophobic attitude rather than a desire to promote home-based enterprises, and that they are extremely selective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines conflict and cooperation between South Africans and Somali spaza shop owners in townships and informal settlements in the context of post-apartheid structural inequities. I argue that Somali and other poor newcomers suffer the same daily insecurity as the majority of the population. However, with the exception of the concerted killings, lootings and displacement of migrants in 2008–2009, this Somali case shows that contact between newcomers and local people is not always antagonistic and that newcomers are not passive victims of violence, but rather engage successfully in both competition and collaboration to cement their presence in these areas. I conclude that violence against migrants is rooted in South Africa's continuing structural violence and communal crisis, a condition characterised by tensions with compatriots as well as with newcomers. To solve the problem, attention must be paid to the persistence of this structural violence in the post-apartheid political dispensation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By the late nineteenth century, Victoria Falls was a popular travel destination for Europeans, South Africans, and Americans who hoped to find adventure amidst what they deemed a wild physical and cultural landscape. Although a tourism industry was first established on the northern side of the Zambezi (Zambia), the southern side of the Falls (Zimbabwe) quickly joined in commercial development. Victoria Falls is now one of the most visited sites in Africa, and labour patterns around this site continue to be strongly influenced by developments in the tourism industry. Because the waterfalls served as a natural border between Northern and Southern Rhodesia, the colonial policies and development strategies on either side led to different commercial activities. The imbalanced nature of the development of tourism at this border continues to affect the working lives of local populations today. The Zimbabwean side of the border dominated the tourist market for decades, and Zambians living just across the Zambezi often crossed into Zimbabwe hoping to find employment or customers for their goods. Over the past eight years though, that trend has reversed, and Zimbabweans living in the border town of Victoria Falls Town are flooding Zambia's tourist town of Livingstone. The recent economic, political, and social upheavals in Zimbabwe are forcing Africans in this area to search for employment, stability, and resources on the Zambian side of the border. In this article, I focus on the rather strong tensions between Zimbabweans and Zambians and men and women who are trying to earn money around the Falls, specifically in Victoria Falls Town, Zimbabwe and Livingstone, Zambia. I am particularly focused on those who earn money by working in what some scholars identify as the 'informal sector', or less commonly as the 'semi-formal sector'. It is clear that gender and nationality are playing an increasing role in the competition among workers, and that the intensity of such tensions are reaching a boiling point. In the tense political landscape of the region, the contemporary divisions between (and among) Zimbabweans and Zambians serve as a reminder that the problems in Zimbabwe are quite clearly not contained within that country's borders. This analysis also contributes to a growing literature on Zimbabwean migrants living and working outside of Zimbabwe. Most studies on the Zimbabwean Diaspora focus on the activities of Zimbabweans in South Africa, which is host to the largest number of migrants, and Britain, where a strong network of Zimbabweans exists. No studies dealing explicitly with Zimbabweans in Zambia are available, yet this is an increasingly popular destination of Zimbabweans forced to flee their country but without the means to travel abroad or too afraid to go to South Africa. This article adds another dimension to the growing attention on Zimbabwe's economic refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on xenophobia directed towards citizens of other African countries in various areas of South Africa, including the informal sector, appear sporadically in the media. With this in mind a study on the relationships between street traders was conducted during 1999 in a section of Govan Mbeki Avenue in the city centre of Port Elizabeth. The research population included both black non-South Africans and black South Africans. The animosity that was evident was far less than the goodwill expressed between these two groups of informal street traders. The primary reason for this can be ascribed to the fact that they were not in direct competition with each other for customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]