In South Africa, where more than 23 million people survive on less than 1,400 rand a month, economist Thami Mazwai is asking a question that cuts to the heart of development policy: what does a nation lose when it treats the labor of its most vulnerable citizens as marginal? Drawing on international models and decades of domestic policy shortfall, Mazwai argues that the informal economy is not a symptom of underdevelopment but a foundation waiting to be built upon — and that the cost of ignoring it is paid daily, in hunger and precarity, by millions of South Africans.
South Africa must integrate informal sector into mainstream economy, columnist argues
Over 23 million South Africans live in poverty on less than 1,400 rand per month, with 18 million borrowing for meals.