Rebecca Plumbley As a popular, low-cost, carbohydrate fast-food mealie (corn-on-the-cob) cooking has a long history in Warwick and its surrounds. Like many other activities in Warwick mealie cooking has recently undergone its third iteration of infrastructure to enable informal workers. There are currently around 64 cooks, the majority of whom are women. As some of … Read more
Phumelele Mkhize and Trang Luu (follow on from Part 1) The horizontal stove design emerged as an option from the MIT D-Lab, as an iteration of the existing cooking method, combined with learning’s from smoke and fuel efficient stove technologies- such as RocketWorks. The concept design aimed to use existing materials and technical insight to … Read more
Phumelele Mkhize and Trang Luu Freshly cooked mealies (corn-on-the-cob) are an essential Durban street food staple – they’re healthy, affordable and conveniently accessible to the local commuter population. Over the years, the preparation of mealies in the inner city has developed incrementally- from the hazard of large open fire cooking on city pavements, to a designated site … Read more
Rebecca Plumbley Several variables have an impact on the livelihoods of informal workers- one such factor that Asiye eTafuleni has noted is the implications of the seasons, which have an influence on resource availability. In times when their supply is low traders cannot easily diversify what they sell as they are likely to then be … Read more
Rebecca Plumbley Train services into Durban city centre have been interrupted and are having knock-on effects on informal traders. As part of a vulnerable economic ecosystem, informal workers are not always able to anticipate and mitigate shocks- such as a drastic drop in passing trade due to the lack of trains. The interruption of train … Read more
Rebecca Plumbley In continuing the partnership between Rhodes University and Asiye eTafuleni, further anthropometric work is currently being conducted by a masters student in Warwick. AeT is encouraged that work is being done to understand some of the finer grained challenges faced by informal workers. Anthropometry refers to the proportions of the human body and … Read more
Rebecca Plumbley Almost a month ago a fire destroyed around a third of the Traditional Herb and Medicine Market- directly impacting 77 traders. Asiye eTafuleni spoke with some of the traders whose goods were burnt in the fire to find out what their experiences of the past month have been: “Everything was destroyed. From the … Read more
Rebecca Plumbley There are approximately 700 bead sellers in Warwick, the majority of whom are women. Most of the bead sellers are from areas outside of Durban such as Ndwedwe and Umzinyathi. They work in family units in their homesteads- coming in to the city on Fridays to sell their wares. In part, this is … Read more
Rebecca Plumbley Informal recycling is a well-established activity in Durban. Recycling paper and cardboard is an important element in the domestic paper-making industry,[1] as well as being vital to the government’s green economy strategy. Waste pickers salvage cardboard in public spaces as well as from local shops with whom they have developed relationships; they then … Read more
