Written by Laura Alfers & Phumzile Xulu Worldwide there is a tendency to assume that informal workers do not and will not properly maintain their workplaces and the infrastructure with which they are provided. The language that attends discussions of informal workplaces is peppered with the words “dirty,” “run down,” “broken,” and informal workers themselves … Read more
Tasmi Quazi 18 July 2013 marked the 95th birthday of former President, Nelson Mandela, revered as “Tata” (Father) of the nation, and it marks the fourth International Mandela Day since November 2009. The campaign’s message is simple; Mandela gave 67 years of his life fighting for social justice and human rights. Accordingly, it asks that individuals, … Read more
Tasmi Quazi Participating informal recyclers of Asiye eTafuleni’s Imagine Durban Inner-City Informal Recycling Project were selected as runner-up in the Community Conservation Award category at a prominent awards ceremony on Thursday, 4 July at Summer Place in Johannesburg. In 2013, the Mail & Guardian’s annual Greening the Future awards celebrates a decade of honouring environmental … Read more
Richard Dobson & Tasmi Quazi The commemoration of Youth month in South Africa is anchored around the 16 June 1976 Soweto uprising. On this ground-breaking day, a series of protests led by nearly 20, 000 high school students was catalysed, against marginalised education and the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in local … Read more
Tasmi Quazi Every year, the prestigious “Corobrik Architectural Student of the Year Competition” is held at a regional level at eight universities across South Africa in the run-up to the national finals. Asiye eTafuleni’s (AeT) intern, Dennis Stols’ entry which proposed a recycling facility for the informal cardboard recyclers in the Durban CBD was the … Read more
Tasmi Quazi Local Durban blogger, Jenna Kelly, visited the Markets of Warwick Tours and captured her experience through a candid narrative and a strikingly studied array of images in her blog, The Girl with a Bum. She writes: If anyone had ever told me that one day I’d be prancing around the depths of Warwick … Read more
Tasmi Quazi Asiye eTafuleni’s (AeT) work in the realm of inclusive urban planning and design was featured in Spark Newsletter (March 2013, Issue 7, pages 15 and 16). AeT’s work appeared under the theme “Public Participation”, including an excerpt on its Markets of Warwick community tourism project which received a Mayoral Award of Excellence in … Read more
Tasmi Quazi The final piece on the Markets of Warwick Junction written by Kristin Neudorf for Open City Projects features the Bovine Head Market. With her usual perceptive outlook, she writes: “Durban’s Bovine Head Market is a fascinating blend of old customs and modern urban design. As the name implies, the market’s entire existence revolves … Read more
Tasmi Quazi A common myth is that the “formal” and “informal” economies are two distinct realities that function separately; economically and spatially. Although the distinction itself is riddled with a lack of clarity and contention, value chain analyses of specific sectors has shown that the two are linked. Moreover, there are many thriving spatial examples … Read more
