Johannesburg, May 12th, 2010
Informal traders speak out Photo: Jennifer Elle Lewis
In the shadow of the Coca-Cola tower, over 100 informal traders gathered to present a memorandum to FIFA executives on May 12th, 2010 at Soccer City in Soweto. Since FIFA passed by-laws preventing informal traders from selling near stadiums during the World Cup, reserving these sites for FIFA affiliates and corporate sponsors, this marginalised group has had to hit the streets, literally.
The streets are where many of these individuals host their businesses and earn their livelihoods. However, on this day they transformed this space to a place of protest. These ‘hawkers’, as they are commonly known, are trying to reclaim their basic human rights in their own way and on their own stomping ground. At the foothills of the massive state of the art soccer stadium, it left one to wonder if these Davids could trump the FIFA Goliath that they say has hijacked what was once their South Africa.
