Cathcart Street
What actually happens
Banks and chain stores line the shopfronts. On the pavement: fruit, airtime, phone covers, amagwinya.
Why people doubt it
Being on a map can mean rent, a fine, or the removal truck. Cash leaves no trail. Traders have learned that staying invisible is a kind of protection.
Where it could stick
The repair stall is already the heart of the town’s real tech economy. A trader-owned map lives on a stall phone and is shared only in the traders’ WhatsApp group.
From the classroom
A trader who writes down what sells, and when, holds the same kind of data big shops pay for. Keeping your own records is the first step to owning them.
Imagine
What if being counted protected the trader instead of exposing her?