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Wednesday, October 3, 2012

HI-WAY Sellers Need Patience


 

One of the most beautiful things the African continent has to offer are the traditional African markets. Although more developped than the rest of the continent South Africa still has a lot of them! Hi-Way in Mdantsane is one of them. But times are hard for the sellers. The global recession has not spared South Africa. The smile is still there on the faces but life has definitely changed for the worse for many!


After the morning buzz and after preparing the stalls and displaying the merchandise, comes the wait. Sometimes a very long wait! 


"Nobody buys anything these days", one seller said. Only the hair-salons are still doing ok. I am thinking of changing my line of busniess. But even they suffer. And I don't know really about hair!"


This seems to be a fact and the cheap and low quality Chinese imports, flooding the country from every angle do not help either. Now everybody has the same things on offer.

While relations with China are intensified and China is getting a tighter grip on Africa more and more traditional craft techniques disappear and die, because the products are too expensive and the producers can not find ways to sell them in this global economy on their own.


So for many the only thing to do is wait, and continue doing the things they already do!


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