“Everything was destroyed…we had no savings.”

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

From a muddy bank with newsprint to enabling infrastructure

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

The Traditional Herb and Medicine Market Fire

Rebecca Plumbley On Sunday the 29th of July a fire burnt around a third of the Traditional Herb and Medicine Market. Video with permission from a known source. The Traditional Herb and Medicine Market is comprised of 289 permitted traders selling traditional medicine in the form of herbs, roots, dried plants, bulbs and bark. In … Read more

A Tribute to John Makwicana

Claire Singer and Tasmi Quazi Influential street trader John Makwicana passed away from a lingering illness on March 7, 2018, at the age of 71. John was an inspiring figure amongst Durban’s inner-city community of informal workers, where he worked as an informal trader for 21 years. He served as the chairperson of Traders Against … Read more

Nompumelelo Ndaba: The woman of many hats

Written by Erik Lønne & Photographs by Kristine Rød Since the start of January of 2017, Nompumelelo Ndaba has been working as an intern with Asiye eTafuleni (AeT), a Non-Profit Organisation, situated by the heart of the busy and bustling Warwick Junction. The twenty-four-year-old leads a hectic life, juggling her internship, making the traditional Zulu … Read more

The Meaning of Asiye eTafuleni: an Intern Perspective

Emma Castaños & Teresa de Figueiredo (Feature image: Phumelele Mkhize) Smiling faces, cake, and sparkling juice greeted us at our first staff meeting. The Asiye eTafuleni (AeT) team had put together a small celebration; not for us, the newly arrived MIT group, but for the service of Lihle on her last day of work. Lihle … Read more

The Markets of Warwick Tour: celebrating its growth in September Tourism month

Tasmi Quazi In South Africa, both heritage month and tourism month are celebrated annually in September. Within this timely context, the Markets of Warwick tour contributed to the celebration of both heritage and tourism by holding a graduation ceremony for its 8 newly trained tourist guides on 21 September 2016, to make up a total … Read more

A Study on Street Furniture in Warwick Junction: The Trestle Table

Phumelele Mkhize & Tasmi Quazi The responsibility of designing and producing useful urban infrastructure in the city is assigned to professionals and governing authorities. What would it mean to let the users be shapers of their own spaces and infrastructure? During his internship with Asiye eTafuleni, Mongezi Ncube, investigated the self-built tables of traders (also … Read more

Vending in Public Spaces & the Law in Durban

Tasmi Quazi In August 2015, WIEGO published a case study on Vending in Public Spaces and the Law written by Phumzile Xulu, which is a review and analysis of the experiences of Asiye eTafuleni’s (AeT) law programme involving legal education and advocacy with informal workers (also referred to as traders). The case study is based … Read more