We have all, at one time or another, bought the occasional airtime recharge voucher, a fruit or just chewing gum from the man or woman down the street. It could be from those stationed at almost every street corner, or along the convergence of foot paths. 

It can however also be your neighbour – a self-made grocer with various food stuffs stacked up neatly in their shop which you can only access through a tiny window, while standing on the edge of the pavement. 

The convenience we get from them; the relative ease of shopping they give us compares to none. In most cases, these businesspeople employ others too, making them a great contributor to the country’s economy. That man on the street corner and your grocer just a stone-throw from your house, all make up the informal sector – a thriving, but less supported economic hub. 

The 2018 Namibia Labour Force Survey states that 57.7% of the country’s workforce operates within the informal economy. It is therefore indisputable that informal trade is, for many Namibians, the only alternative to unemployment. 

This vital sector however, is under-supported and deserves more. As in most countries, Namibia’s informal economy serves as an entrepreneurship incubator and is the entry point for the majority of those with a desire to venture into the business arena. In summary, it is the starting point of an entrepreneurial journey. 

However, the working space for entrepreneurs in the informal economy in Namibia is characterised by small or undefined workplaces; generally, such “business sites” are unsafe, and premises impose unhealthy working conditions for entrepreneurs and their staff. 

Other challenges include unregulated business environments, low or irregular incomes, long working hours, and low levels of technical and business skills, including an absence of financial literacy on the part of entrepreneurs, with resultant productivity constraints, and the lack of access to information, markets, finance, training, and technology. 

Furthermore, workers in the informal economy are not recognised, registered, regulated or protected under labour legislation or social protection. 

All these factors explain the strong correlation between poverty and informality. 

There is tremendous potential to grow Namibia’s informal economy from the grassroots up, for it to become a major role player in sustaining the livelihoods of many people, but the efficiency of these informal businesses needs to be improved by removing some of the constraints which hinder their proper functioning. 

Given the importance of the informal economy, it is imperative that operators and businesses be assisted to transit or migrate to the formal economy so as to reap the benefits associated with formalisation, while at the same time allowing society, in general, to also benefit from increased job creation, tax contributions, and social responsibility contributions that result from formalisation. 

Informal traders throughout Namibia have always endured harassment at the hands of police officers. 

Even though, as noted earlier, many people work in the informal economy, authorities have never treated informal traders with kindness and understanding. 

The mistreatment, harassment and arrest of informal traders are commonplace, while goods are routinely confiscated by law enforcement officers. In cases where laws are broken, such actions would be justified. However, in most cases it has to do with operating at undesignated places or becoming ‘nuisance’ to passers-by. 

The harassment of vendors is dictated, mostly by obsolete or colonial bye-laws which have been overtaken by modern-day realities. 

Surely these laws or by-laws could be relaxed to accommodate the informal traders. Simply put, informal traders whose only offence is trying to eke out a living in a competitive economy characterised by a high rate of joblessness, are not criminals, the only other alternative left to them, and should not be treated as such. 

Informal economy traders thus deserve to be heard, supported and assisted – they should never be brutalised for trying to survive legally. For example, global statistics reveal that more than 60% of the world’s employed population earn their livelihoods from the informal economy. 

It is therefore indisputable that informal trade is, for many Namibians, is a means of livelihood improvement, if not basic survival. 

Strangely, neither the Namibian Constitution, as the supreme law of the land, nor any other legislative instrument gives explicit recognition to the centrality of this sector to the national economic development process. 

This needs to change. 

And the answer does not lie in formalising the sector, but rather in supporting its existence as is. It lies in bringing market access closer to players in this sector. It also lies in making sure banks and financial institution look upon the cause of the informal sector favourably. 

As the sector continue to grow, the best and appropriate time to act on it would be yesterday.