“ENHANCING INFORMAL ECONOMY IN SUB- SAHARAN AFRICAN CITIES: A CASE STUDY OF KINSHASA” ALEXIS LINGANDU MABELE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ENGENEERING AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT, UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, JOHANNESBURG, FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN TOWN AND REGIONAL PLANNING NOVEMBER 2006 i DECLARATION I declare that this dissertation is my own unaided work. It is being submitted for the degree of Master of Science in Town and Regional Planning in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before for any degree or examination in any other university. ___________________________________ ALEXIS LINGANDU MABELE This-------------day of ------------------ 2006 ii ABSTRACT Informal economy is currently creating more employment than ever in sub-Saharan African cities by absorbing a large number of city residents. From West, East, Central and Southern Africa, informal economy is contributing enormously to the GDP and economic growth and development. Paradoxically, while it is doing so, little is being done to examine its potential and to provide it with appropriate management strategies as tools to support this sector and increase its productivity within the government revenue base. It is within this context that efforts have to be developed by exploring alternative strategies that can contribute to the debate of enhancing informal economy to increase its productivity, particularly in the city of Kinshasa. This could allow this sector to participate productively and purposefully to economic growth and development as well as to improvement of living standards of sub-Saharan African cities’ residents. iii DEDICATION To my God Almighty, Creator of the whole universe To my Lord and Saviour, Jesus-Christ iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want first of all to thank God who has provided me with energy, courage, strength and everything necessary to accomplish this work. My greatest gratitude must be given to all staff and lecturers that have contributed in one or other way to the fulfillment of this work, especially to my supervisor Prof. Ken Simons whose highly learned supervision has revolutionized my thinking and shaped my determination to achieve this work and also to Prof. Philip Harrison who has provided me with an outstanding orientation in this work in order to achieve an academic standard. My thanks must be given to my wife, Fanny Wanshi Malu for her patience and moral support during the years of my studies. I am truly thankful to those who have been helpful to me during the data collection of my case study, especially, to Mr. Kashamba who is the director of the center of documentation in the Ministry of Urbanism and Habitat for his openness to make me have access to needed documentations for my work, to Mr. José Ilanga, the director in the Ministry of Environment, to Mr. Kalonda, the director and head of the Department of Informal Economy in the Ministry of Economy for his sincere attitude and openness, to Mr. Kabesa, the head of the economic urban division of the city of Kinshasa, to Mr. Komba, the head of Urban Planning in the city and also his colleague, Mr. Julbert Mavita, to Mr. Bazebisaala-Kiazungu-Bazin who is a technician in environmental issues in Urban Division of Environment, Mrs Kitenge who is in charge of finance and budget in one of Kinshasa’s municipalities for her positive attitude and openness to allow me to have access to statistics of the municipality’s revenue per sector of business, including informal markets, to many other public officials that had been interviewed and whose names are not mentioned here but who have contributed in the achievement of this work. I also want to thank Prof Richard Ganga-Limando of UNISA (University of South Africa) for his constant encouragement to achieve this work, and Prof. Michel Mbambi (University of Kinshasa) for his logistics support during my different data collection phases in Kinshasa. v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION………………………………………………………………………..ii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………..iii DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………………..iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..............................................................................................v LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................................................ix LIST OF MAPS……………………………………………………………………….....x LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………....xi Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................... 1 1.1 RESEARCH PROBLEM .............................................................................................................. 2 1.2 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................ 7 1.2.1 GENERAL APPROACH......................................................................................................... 7 1.2.2 RESEARCH METHOD........................................................................................................... 7 A. SAMPLE AND SAMPLING METHOD IN DATA COLLECTION ............................. 9 B. SOURCES OF DATA ................................................................................................... 13 C. TECHNIQUES IN DATA COLLECTION ................................................................... 13 D. PROCEDURE IN DATA COLLECTION .................................................................... 14 E. LIMITATIONS IN DATA COLLECTION................................................................... 16 1.3 CHAPTERS OUTLINE .............................................................................................................. 17 Chapter 2 INFORMAL ECONOMY AS A WORLD PHENOMENON .............. 18 2.1 INFORMAL ECONOMY LITERATURE OVERVIEW............................................................ 18 2.1.1 EMERGENCE OF INFORMAL SECTOR CONCEPT ........................................................ 20 2.1.2 CRITICISM OF INFORMAL SECTOR CONCEPT ............................................................ 22 2.1.3 EMERGENCE OF PETTY COMMODITY PRODUCTION CONCEPT ............................ 23 2.1.4 FROM PETTY COMMODITY PRODUCTION DEBATE TO INFORMALISATION CONCEPT ............................................................................................................................. 26 A. INFORMALISATION AND SOCIAL NETWORKS IN AFRICA.............................. 27 B. INFORMALISATION AND LINKAGES IN AFRICA................................................ 28 2.2 INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE OF INFORMAL ECONOMY ....... 29 2.2.1 EUROPE AND USA.............................................................................................................. 29 2.2.2 ASIA ...................................................................................................................................... 32 2.2.3 LATIN AMERICA ................................................................................................................ 34 2.2.4 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA.................................................................................................... 35 A. INFORMAL ECONOMY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN CITIES ........................... 36 B. INFORMAL TRADING IN KINSHASA ..................................................................... 40 2.3 A NEW PERSPECTIVE OF INFORMAL ECONOMY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA. ......... 42 2.4 A NEW PERSPECTIVE OF INFORMAL TRADING IN SUB-SAHARAN CITIES............... 47 vi A. ROLE OF CULTURE, CIVILISATION AND ETHICAL VALUES IN INFORMAL TRADING NEW PERSPECTIVE................................................................................ 54 2.5 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 62 Chapter 3 INFORMAL TRADING IN KINSHASA: SPATIAL DESCRIPTION AND URBAN MANAGEMENT............................................................. 63 3.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY .................................................................................................. 64 3.1.1 HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION ............................................................................................. 64 3.1.2 GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION...................................................................................... 66 3.1.3 SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT DESCRIPTION ...................................................................... 68 A. COLONIAL PERIOD ................................................................................................... 68 B. AFTER INDEPENDENCE............................................................................................ 70 3.2 POLICIES OF INFORMAL TRADING IN KINSHASA........................................................... 73 3.2.1 GOVERNMENT’S DEPARTMENTS’ POLICIES............................................................... 74 A. DEPARTMENT OF INFORMAL ECONOMY AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL.......... 74 B. URBAN DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING .................................................................. 75 C. URBAN DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMY................................................................... 77 D. URBAN DEPARTMENT OF URBANISM.................................................................. 78 E. URBAN DEPARTMENTS OF ENVIRONMENT AND HYGIENE………………….79 3.2.2 PUBLIC OFFICIALS’ PARTICIPATION IN THE SURVEY ............................................. 80 3.2.3 MANAGEMENT OF INFORMAL TRADING IN MUNICIPALITIES .............................. 83 A. URBANISM DEPARTMENT .....................................................................................