Wednesday 15 August 2007

Informal Traders

An informal trader that sells pirate DVDs runs from police on William Nicol ave in Johannesburg.
Today, I accompanied the Metro police enforcing by-laws, which consisted mostly of arresting traders at major intersections. The police were simply doing their job by rounding up the traders (mostly foreigners) , as they believe they contribute to crime in the areas, but this does'nt seem like the way to tackle this, I spoke to one of the traders and they believe they help curb crime by being in the area constantly. They insist they are just trying to earn a living, which is fair enough, I think.
It seems like a double edged sword, on the one side the law must be upheld, on the other, people need to make a living. Surely there must be another option, as the trader assured me that he would be back as soon as he pays his fine.