摘要
Admittedly, the stratospheric rise of Informal African Immigrant Traders （IAIT） in the Johannesburg inner city within a climate of discrimination, harassment, hostility, and xenophobia has engendered survival strategies which border on the illegal and underground. Based on an in-depth interview study of 40 IAIT, operating in the Johannesburg inner city and specialising in clothes, cellphone and accessories, household goods, fruits and vegetables, and a courier company, this paper posits that the registered and unregistered IAIT operate side by side with the latter operating from undesignated sites, either bribing or deceitful evading the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police （JMP）. Is this the characteristic of IAIT in the Johannesburg inner city？ Ostensibly, the success of challenging the institutional regulatory regime points to the possibility of African immigrant traders existing on the edge of impropriety or lawlessness. To this end, there is a need for comprehensive policy initiatives starting from the national and cascading to the provincial and municipality levels that will effectively address and manage urban informality, including the activities of the IAIT, failing which these will fuel operations outside the regulatory regimes and the mushrooming of the underground economic activities.
