COVID-19 and street traders in the City of uMhlathuze, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: On responses and adaptation mechanisms

The paper analysed the response and adaptation strategies of informal street traders to the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the City of uMhlathuze, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A total of 30 informal street traders were interviewed using in-depth unstructured interviews as an instrument of data collection. Findings suggest that the informal street traders responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by breaking COVID-19 regulations to secure incomes as well as by depending on social grants and saving schemes to survive during the COVID-19 crisis. All these suggest the need for disaster preparedness on the part of the government and relevant stakeholders to protect the informal economy and its immediate beneficiaries in times of crisis like COVID-19. This is pertinent because the informal economy plays an important socioeconomic developmental role for many people living in urban South Africa.