Big is not always better in Pennyville
The majority of the country’s small and micro enterprises operate informally, largely as cash-only operations staffed by skilled or semiskilled, nonunionised workers.
They range from spaza shops in the township to industrial parks such as Gauteng’s Pennyville Industrial Park, home to dozens of workshops producing metalwork, furniture and textiles.
Adriaan Ncube, the 78-year-old owner of a small business, and his apprentice, 25-year-old Maloko Mabitsi, carve ornate fern patterns on pine pieces to be used on an order of Victorian daybeds.
Ncube, has honed his craft for nearly 60 years and is revered by his peers. He says: “I believe it is a talent I was born with, because I never got any formal training in this.”
He started as a 17-year-old apprentice smoothing furniture frames. “I observed closely what was being done and I started experimenting with different patterns and designs and just got better at it.”
Today automated machines carve the bulk of decorative work on furniture, but his hand-carved work has made him highly soughtafter by furniture makers both in and outside the industrial park.
But operating beyond the official radar comes with several risks, which many of the owners of busi- nesses in Pennyville know too well. Three years ago, a fire razed a section of the park, destroying property worth millions of rands and nearly a dozen workshops.
The majority of the workshops did not have insurance cover and none of those affected by the fire received any compensation. The cause of the fire is still unknown.
Wayne Herman’s upholstery business was one of those that went up in flames and, although many of the former owners decided to cut their losses and seek their fortunes elsewhere, Herman is slowly rebuilding his former business.
“We are hopeful that, with the change in the city’s mayor, the representation of small businesses will be at the front of the policy agenda. As it is, small business owners have no buffers to the numerous risks they encounter,” he says.
“When it comes to hiring, for example, labour department officials are always here [in Pennyville Industrial Park] and demand you comply with numerous conditions, or else they shut you down. This makes labour expensive,” he says.