History
The South African Informal Workers Association (SAIWA) has its roots in the nine markets of Warwick Junction in Durban. Prior to South Africa hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup traders in the Warwick Junction in the inner city of Durban decided they wanted to showcase their market area to local and international tourists. With the support of Asiye eTafuleni tours of the area were initiated
. A market committee, comprising of at least two representatives from each market was established. Asiye eTafuleni arranged a series of capacity building workshops. Through this process, the trader committee identified a need for a collective voice in order to enable them to address the myriad of challenges they experience on a daily basis. This culminated in the formation of the South African Informal Workers Association in July 2011. This organic worker-centred process is currently led by an interim structure made up of workers from diverse sectors and is registered with the Directorate of the Non Profit Sector as a non-profit association. SAIWA has its headquarters in Durban and its membership is open to all individual informal workers in South Africa under several categories/ sectors, who subscribe to SAIWA mission, vision and values. SAIWA has successfully recruited 620 paid members. Ninety five percent of these members are women. The largest represented sector is the arts and craft, which has 85% of members, out of these members 97%, are women. Other sectors represented are textile, fruit-and-vegetables, catering-and-cooked food, tourism, communication, traditional medicine and herbs, support services (taxi washers) and fashion-and-accessories. Members pay an annual membership fee of R20. SAIWA has multiple strategies and interventions and aims to lobby and advocate for the promotion and protection of the rights of informal workers and elevate their status as significant contributors to job creation, social cohesion and economic development. This implies inclusion of informal workers into urban policies, planning, development and management processes. SAIWA also aims to develop economically viable and socially empowering sector specific formations such as cooperatives but also to forge unity and cooperation amongst informal workers. SAIWA facilitates access to resources and raw materials for members in order to purchase in bulk.
