It’s exactly an hour before the Joburg Market in City Deep closes, but the sprawling Mandela Market is still teeming with activity, with barely time to take a breath.
Scores of enthusiastic traders are selling various types of fresh produce off the back of trucks and designated stalls.
The aroma of neatly packed and stacked fresh produce permeates the air and the green and purple cabbages, red apples, oranges and naartjies create a kaleidoscope of colour in the often dry tarmac trade hall.
Mandela Market, inside the Joburg Market, is a bustling open trading area comprising a large group of informal vendors trading in a formalised area of tarmac.
The iron roof of the storage stores extends to its front, forming a cooling shelter. Below the shelter and against the walls of the stores, tables, stalls and crates are stacked up to create an elevated platform to display the various types of fresh produce on sale.
Some traders have extended their shelters with steel iron rods, covering the top with sacks to create more space and protect the produce from the scorching sun. At the centre of the area is a large tarmac shelter with pallets of produce, some stacked and placed on open display atop boxes and pallets.
The raucous sound of trucks, cars, loud conversations, forklifts and trollies driving by and hooting around the market create a boisterous atmosphere. There’s a general sense of healthy competition going on, with traders fighting for a chance to sell their produce before trading officially closes at midday.
“Hhe baba! Ngicela i-anyanis’ lapho!” shouts a man from his car to a group of traders standing by the miniature market gate. One enthusiastic trader runs to his stand and grabs a half-full 10kg sack of onions and brings it over to the car. The customer objects before the trader runs back to his stall to grab a full 10kg sack of onions.
David Osaro and Themba Radebe have owned a stall at Mandela Market since inception. Osaro, a tall bulky man with a balding head and a well-groomed greybeard, says the market has grown since it opened in the early 90s.
Traders pay R500 a month to the Joburg Market for the maintenance of their trading space. They stock fresh produce in bulk and resell in smaller quantities to the public.
Mandela Market was initially called the Housewives Market and was designed as an alternative market for those who wanted to buy in smaller quantities. It had only 16 traders then. Now it bustles with 125 traders, each of whom has up to six employees working under them.
Sporting dark sunglasses with faded blue jeans and a black sports jacket with pinstripes along the arms, Osaro says the Mandela Market is now oversubscribed.
He says that challenges the market is experiencing point to its exponential growth. “We thank the City and the Market for giving us the opportunity to express ourselves through trade and entrepreneurship,” he says.
Veli Mazibuko, another Mandela Market stall owner, says the traders are a close-knit community and always look out for each other.
Mandela Market, unlike its parent the Joburg Market, is a cash business. It was conceived out of a need for independence and sustainable income streams for budding, intermediate entrepreneurs. It has since created over 700 permanent jobs for traders in the informal sector.
The Joburg Market is the largest fresh produce market in Africa. Sales of fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and general groceries, most of them on sale to the public at wholesale prices, take place on Tuesdays to Fridays from 5am to 11am, and on Mondays and Saturdays from 5am to 10am.
For more information telephone the Joburg Market on 011 992 8000.
