Hybrid governance of urban informality: evidence from street vending in Gauteng metros

Street vending is a significant part of the urban landscape in many cities of the global South, yet it poses governance challenges for local authorities. Drawing on qualitative data from interviews and document analysis, this paper examines street vending governance in the metropolitan municipalities (metros) of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni through the lens of hybrid governance. It analyses state-initiated street vendor committees, where street vendor leaders form part of the state apparatus. The paper argues that hybrid governance in this context is not an outcome of weak state capacity, but a deliberate strategy through which the state restructures and extends its authority by incorporating non-state actors into everyday governance. The findings show that these committees are delegated key administrative and regulatory functions, including the allocation of vending spaces and enforcing by-laws. In exercising these roles, they act simultaneously as representatives of street vendors and extensions of municipal authority, blurring the boundaries between state and non-state. While such arrangements enable flexible and pragmatic governance, they also produce gatekeeping structures that centralise power and enable discretionary practices. The paper concludes that hybrid governance operates as a form of indirect rule that reinforces state control while reproducing new forms of exclusion in urban informality governance.