Municipal hawking: Johannesburg's mobile markets, 1944-1952

Abstract

The period 1944 - 1952 saw the rise and fall of the mobile markets of Johannesburg, an experiment in municipal food hawking. The scheme was an attempt to counter the high food prices of the period. Much controversy surrounded the introduction of the mobile food vans. At first the vans served the lower-income areas of White Johannesburg but later geographically extended their zone of operation into higher income suburbs. At the peak of the programme, seven vans were in action. The decline of the mobile markets was attributed to their high operating costs, a precipitous fall in consumer patronage, intense competition from private retailers and hawkers, and to the return of more normal marketing conditions after the war.