Joint Statement: Impact of COVID19 on millions who work informally in South Africa
Statement issued by a network of organisations representing informal workers in South Africa in sectors:
- domestic work
- waste picking/reclaiming in the streets and on landfill sites
- street and market traders
- home based craft and garment work
- community care work
- the taxi sector
- artisanal fishing
Informal workers in these and other sectors (e.g. agriculture and restaurants) total just under 5 million workers.
The statement details the challenges these workers face in this pandemic, and urges the government to act on several demands.
We therefore call on government to make urgent arrangements to redirect funds from the UIF surplus, and from large events that have been cancelled, and other sources, and establish a Living Cash Grant to all informal workers, regardless of nationality. This would enable vulnerable informal workers to comply with calls to self-isolate where feasible, without losing their livelihoods, and go on to survive the worst times to come.
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