Longstanding trader quits Johannesburg after permit process stalls
After more than two decades selling fruit and vegetables at the Pan Africa precinct in Alexandra, Khombisile Mtshali has left Johannesburg and returned to KwaZulu‑Natal, saying she could no longer rely on the City to issue a trading permit.
Mtshali, 48, said she repeatedly tried to apply for a permit but received no effective assistance. Her decision to leave came after she observed that many other informal traders in the inner city had not been registered or issued permits months after a Johannesburg High Court order required the municipality to verify and allocate trading spaces.
“Not a lot of traders have acquired their permits since November last year,” Mtshali said.
Mtshali began selling at Pan Africa in the early 2000s after losing her job as a domestic worker. With limited formal education, street trading became her principal source of income and enabled her to raise three children; two of them are now at university. She said the small wooden table she used to trade from survived job losses, rising costs and municipal raids, but the prolonged uncertainty around her right to trade pushed her to return to KwaZulu‑Natal.
High Court order intended to regularise trading left unresolved
The trader’s departure comes almost a year after the High Court in Johannesburg ordered the City to start the verification and registration process for qualifying inner‑city traders. Judge Brad Wanless ordered the City to begin verification and registration on 4 November 2025 and to complete the process by no later than 18 November 2025.
The court action followed removals of traders from parts of the inner city in early October 2025. The order was expected to provide a clear pathway for traders to be formally registered and allocated trading stands, but traders say the process remains incomplete and unresolved.
Consequences for traders and the inner city
Traders who depended on access to trading spaces in Johannesburg’s inner city describe increasing precarity: interrupted income, difficulty planning household budgets, and the stress of an uncertain legal status. Mtshali said that after attempting to navigate the municipal process without success, she saw no option but to leave. Her account highlights broader concerns about the pace and effectiveness of the City’s implementation of the court order.
- Who left: Khombisile Mtshali, 48-year-old trader from Alexandra.
- Where: Pan Africa precinct, Alexandra, Johannesburg.
- Why: Lack of progress in issuing trading permits despite a High Court deadline.
The story underlines the tensions between municipal enforcement, court directives and the livelihoods of informal traders who rely on designated trading spaces. Traders and advocates have consistently argued that formalising trade through a transparent verification and allocation process would reduce conflict, improve municipal planning and protect incomes.
Timeline
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| High Court orders verification and registration to begin | 4 November 2025 |
| High Court sets deadline for completion of allocation | 18 November 2025 |
| Trader leaves Johannesburg | 2026 (reported 19 October 2026) |
Mtshali’s account is one example among many traders who say they remain in limbo. The municipality had not completed the verification and allocation process for all qualifying traders at the time of reporting. The failure to meet the court-ordered timetable has immediate consequences for vendors’ incomes and for the management of trading in Johannesburg’s inner city.
As the City of Johannesburg continues to work through legal and administrative obligations, traders like Mtshali face difficult choices between waiting for municipal resolution and seeking economic survival elsewhere.
