Johannesburg, South Africa – In the narrow lanes of Fordsburg in central Johannesburg, Junaid Mohammed* stands behind the counter of a family shop that has been in his family for decades. His father started it as a general dealer. Today, it survives on cheap Chinese imports and shrinking margins.
Junaid, who asks us to use a pseudonym, does not call it a decline. He calls it survival.
But the bigger change is not what he sells. It is who he employs.
Junaid only employs foreign nationals as store assistants and packers. “It was not a deliberate choice,” he says.
It began with cost. Then habit. Then necessity.
“It became expensive to hire locals,” he says.
South Africa’s minimum wage is about $1.87 per hour, roughly $324 per month, plus statutory contributions and strong labour protections.
Junaid says he cannot carry it.
He pays about $12 a day, below the legal minimum, and hires…
