The survival of the 'informal sector': the shebeens of black Johannesburg

The present paper constitutes a contribution towards an historical geography of the informal sector. A longitudinal analysis is pursued of the survival of shebeens, an institution for the provision of liquor, in the areas of Black settlement around Johannesburg. The concepts 'conservation' and 'dissolution' which derive from the Marxian based literature on petty commodity production afford a theoretical lens for interpreting the survival of the informal sector. Three major phases in the persistence of shebeening in Black Johannesburg are delineated, viz., (1) the era of liqour prohibition extending to 1937, (2) the period 1937-76 when shebeens confront the system of municipal monopoly and a progressive relaxation on liquor controls, and (3) the progressive moves from 1976 towards the official acceptance and legalization of shebeens.