I am now replying to your original comment “they (undocumented migrants) have destroyed SMMEs in black communities.” My position is that this is not true. I use Transkei because it is an area I am familiar with but this doesn’t apply there only. Thread. @HermanMashaba https://twitter.com/hermanmashaba/status/1327249730469027841

1. Under apartheid, the economy was segregated, no less who could do business with whom and where. Local businesses grew around racially segregated settlements - zones where people of Indian descent in parts of the City and Africans on the outskirts, townships and locations.

2. Black entrepreneurs developed and grew in the trading strips in townships, where there was a corner cafe, a dry cleaner, car mechanic workshop, Fast food etc...You know this history very well.

3. Key to the success of these businesses was location and transport challenges for Africans. So, people mostly spent their money where they lived. This grew business opportunities for black entrepreneurs.

4. In the Eastern Cap, (same in other Bantustans) before 1976, almost all businesses were white owned in villages. After ‘independence’ those were transferred to black people, mostly friends of the regime but not always. New black businesses developed and grew.

5. These small black owned businesses could succeed because a) it was difficult for people to get to town. b) they could access credit through joint schemes and c) provide central buying and rates. One of these was Lucky7, which was nation wide.

6. By mid 1980s, black people started expanding their taxi businesses and access to cities and towns was easier. Instead of buying clothes and other things they couldn’t buy locally, people could now buy in the city, everyday, instead of monthly OK Bazaars...

7. New shopping centres developed on the outer perimeter of the City, near taxi rank. These catered for mostly black consumers. New shopping centres were built on the outskirts of townships. In Cape Town, two centres come to mind - in town near the taxi rank & shoprite in Gugs.

8. With time, the community which was serviced by corner shops was reduced. People were catching taxes to shop in town. Schemes like Lucky7 were folding. And mega markets opened to everybody, not just shopkeepers. The success of the corner shop was always temporary...

9. Another factor, which we don’t often talk about is to do with family succession and inter generational issues. My parents had a shop in the village. They certainly did not want us to do the same. They pushed us to study and explore the world.

10. A lot of families that had big businesses in T’kei cities sent their kids to university. They are now in the cities. With the exception of a handful, many families rented their businesses to new business owners and later to immigrants.

11. These and other factors contributed to what we see today. Immigrants all over the world work in small shops and restaurants. There’s a reason for this. It is a hard life, long hours and hard work. Immigrant communities all over the world come together for their buying power.

12. Today, they do what we did in the 1970s and 1980s through Lucky7 and other schemes. Their hours are as terrible as hours back then. They sleep in the shops. At the peak of my parents’ business, we closed at 7pm. Cleaned and tidied until 9. At 5am we were packing shelves.

I’ll end here...