A thriving economy torn apart: A story of the Township Economy

Another argument that researchers are bringing to the table will be the lack of funding from local and national institutions responsible and further suggests that  ‘living conditions matter’, bearing a huge influence on the formation of the enterprise as well as its performance.

Of relevance to the South African situation is their finding from Nairobi slums that those informal enterprises that sell their goods (or a portion thereof) outside the settlement are less likely to be poor.

Tembisa’s case does not fall short of the above case study where both formal and informal businesses compete for the same consumers but a greater advantage for some of these small enterprises would education and training compared to their counterparts.
The dynamics of course will vary from one business to another solemnly depended on consumer loyalty from locals and amidst the social challenges faced by some businesses they continue to grow and show potential.

Still investigating and interrogating Tembisa’s economic would to observe it during this phase of a global pandemic and how some of the businesses are affected by #Lockdown which was a South African government measure to curb and stop the spread of the recently broke out Coronavirus pandemic.

It seemed like business as usual in the streets of Tembisa with many local business opening for level 4 easing of restrictions. Local business men standing beside their workshops waiting for customers to arrive and with some nearby serving one or two customers after a while.

A local carpenter, Wonderful Hungwe who runs his own business in Mayibuye, Tembisa shared his story mentioning business is not as usual though they generate money now again and expressed a dire need for relief funding during the lockdown period.
“Things are not the same since the pandemic broke out and even if we are trying to apply for this relief funding, the process is very complicated for businesses like ours where we don’t have financial statements to produce which are required when you apply for this funding”, said Hungwe.

“We run our daily business transactions from hand to hand and record them in books written in pen, we don’t bank but we know how to save some money at home for the operations of the business”, he added.
Hungwe like many other informal and formal small enterprises in the township of Thembisa expressed their concerns on the challenges facing the SMME’s in township in accessing the relief fund from different government institutions to assist small businesses affected negatively by the lockdown in South Africa.

Due to the negative effect caused by the Coronavirus leading to a lockdown by most world governments in an attempt to curb and stop the spread of the virus, a number of private and state entities have set up relief funding schemes to support small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic but for these township small medium enterprises trying to access the funding is like chasing waterfalls.
Since the Lockdown started on March 27, government institutions, companies, schools, universities, shopping centres and other retail stores were closed except for the retailors that provide essential goods and necessities such food, water, pharmaceutical products etc.

The total lockdown meant loss of profit for businesses as it forced people to stay at home and not go to work with many losing their jobs in the process contributing to a decline in consumption of goods and having a damaging effect on a larger scale of the economy.
“Business is struggling very hard during this time even though my business is provide an essential business of car tyre supply, people don’t have money, they come here with damaged tyres expecting me to replace their tyres without having enough money to pay for the product due to loss of income”, said Molapo, who owns a car tyre business in Tembisa.

“What would you do if it were you? Molapo explaining what he goes through in his business during lockdown, would you let another human being suffer knowing you can help, of course not I help because I understand the situation especially for us in the townships where poverty is a norm for some of us. However I lose at the end of the day because I hardly make profit even though I make sales”.
Amid a high unemployment rate of (34.5%) equivalent to a fifth of the township’s population, and poor living conditions for some residents, businesses in this area were thriving with continued support from the locals until the outbreak of #Coronavirus had negative implications on the economy specifically for SMME’s and stopping all operations.
A group of street vendors selling vegetables in the area also said business is worse for them because their bread and butter depends on the sale of vegetables.

Mama Joyce, a street vendor in Thembisa said, “My pension is not enough to support the family, so selling vegetables vegetable here in streets helps add to the income so my children and grandchildren can eat, the lockdown has made things worse as you can see I braai this mealies the whole day so I can at least buy bread and electricity”.

“No one comes to buy now because they are scared of getting sick from this Corona and for us it means no money”.
With many township residents expecting financial assistance and food parcels from government , Small Medium Enterprises continue to lose profits because very few people come to buy and when they do their money is not enough.

He stated that they leant the reason behind the names of some places in Lesotho. The guides were explaining the events that took place at a particular time and the reason why some places were given particular names.

People were clad in the traditional Sotho attire with a blanket and carrying sticks and singing. Guided by the army they went through mountains, valleys, villages and bushes with some villagers ululating as the group passed. The yearly event started 15 years with an attendance of 40 and today 750, said Maletlane.

The walk ended in Thaba Bosiu where Moshoeshoe defeated the invaders by rolling stones from the mountain top. Thaba Bosiu used to be his capital city and he defeated some European invaders from there.