Umlazi Tuck shop owner bears the brunt of Covid-19.
By Mcebo Makhaye
Andile Cele
Skhumbuzo Mdunge
Nontando Mhlongo
The Covid-19 pandemic, which started to erupt in March 2020, specifically in South Africa, has coerced many township businesses to shut down their operations. A shop owner at Umlazi, Nkosiyethu Buthelezi, spelled out how Covid-19 has affected him to shut down his business due to the level-5 lockdown implemented in 2020.
Buthelezi started his business eight years ago to trade from the backyard of his home-based at Umlazi-D section. During his small beginnings, Buthelezi began his journey by selling basic food necessities, namely bread, milk, rice, sugar, and salt before expanding into other fast-food products, such as vetkoek that he prepared from his home kitchen.
Under level-5 lockdown, Buthelezi said his tuck shop was affected because most people were only buying essential products, such as bread, milk, and so on which did not produce enough profits.
"The Covid-19 pandemic has affected me badly when it comes to buying power in my tuck shop. This is because most people were not allowed to go to many places due to the regulations of level-5 lockdown.
“Then people who used to spend money in my tuck shop were passing by. They were fewer and those who came into the shop were looking for essential products only, which was strange to me if we compare to a previous period of before Covid-19,” Buthelezi said.
One of the community members, Siyabonga Nkosi, said the enclosure of Tuck shops have forced him to travel outside of the community for the essential goods. "It was very difficult for me because sometimes I used to spend the last cent from my savings to travel outside the community for shopping, no matter how small it was. So, yeah, it was draining," Nkosi said.
The span of the Covid-19 lockdown has motivated many people to hold on to their savings because no one was sure when everything would return to normal. Some parents were worried about not only what they had on the table, but they were also concerned about what they would put on that same table tomorrow as many employees were either suspended or retrenched from work during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Another community member, Nondumiso Mchunu, said throughout the Covid-19 level-5 lockdown, her family used to buy food that was in bulk that would last them many days.
“It has been very difficult to get things like bread from tuck shops in the morning. So, we had to go in the afternoon and buy bread that will last us three days before replacing it again.” said Mchunu.
Meanwhile, the eThekwini Municipality had entered a partnership with mobile network provider, MTN, to create the spaza relief grant aimed at easing the burden for tuck shop owners.
MTN Communications and Public Relations representative, Ms. Jacquai O’Sullivan assures the public that the process will be seamless and transparent.
“For transparency and to allow for seamless tracking and grouping of requests, we ask that applicants use one point of entry, which is the email SpazaRelief@mtn.com,” said Sullivan.
In addition, the spaza relief grant will be a once off campaign and recipients will not be liable to pay back the lump sum received.
