Faizel Patel – 19/08/2021
As South Africa tries to recover from the deadly unrest and looting last month, many small business owners and even spaza shops are trying to rebuild their businesses, but this has not been easy.
More than 300 people died during the rampant riots and looting in KwaZulu-Natal while the unrest is expected to result in about 105 000 people facing a bleak future without jobs.
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Gauteng, South Africa’s economic hub make up half of national GDP and almost half of the country’s population.
While big establishments and businesses may have the capacity to recover from the losses incurred by the looting, the small business owner have a mountain to climb.
Ahmed Keeka who owns the Springbok Café in Finetown south of Johannesburg which was also looted of almost a hundred thousand rands worth of stock says it has been a difficult road to recovery after the unrest.
“It’s a big challenge, a very big challenge. I’ve got some assistance from a few donors that gave us, but still it’s not covering up the business what we lost. People look at the shop, it’s now looted, so a lot of people that were buying here think the shop is still closed. It haven’t really come to them to say that the shop is open. Only those that really support me and come and see me open. I have to carry on, I can’t just sit back and keep quite. Whatever I could put in, whatever I could get, whoever donated to me, that’s where I started again.”
Keeka says his shop services residents that had to walk long distances or even take a taxi to buy basic necessities like bread and milk.
“Many of them that used to come and buy, even those that used to come ask for help, ‘please help me, I’ll come give you tomorrow, I’ll give you in a week’s time’ those are same ones that were even looting.”
Keeka echoed President Cyril Ramphosa’s words saying the deadly riots and looting serves as a stark reminder of just how deep South Africa’s dispossession and exploitation problems ran.
Watch the video report by Radio Islam
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