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This article examines the transformational and socio-economic development potential of the Informal Economy (sometimes referred to as the Second Economy) in South Africa through the use of a qualitative hypothesis. The article's interpretation of transformation and socio-economic development is heavily slanted towards addressing and understanding the problem of unemployment, as it is the largest lever for positive change in post-1994 South Africa. Therefore, this article's (null) hypothesis contends that the informal economy, though much researched, has an undefined role in the South African government's formal economic development planning processes; worse so, where youth is concerned. This hypothesis is tested using two analytical approaches. Firstly, an examination of the post-1994 South African government's public policies and legal environment and the role of youth within the informal sector was undertaken, and s