Imbizo offers hope for village and township business
Every weekday morning Ali Rikhotso packs his tools and wares into a big bag and takes a taxi from his rural home village to the centre of Giyani.
There he sets up his makeshift stall near other hawkers on the sidewalk of a bustling street opposite the Giyani community hall, and waits for customers to drop by. The father of four makes a living by fixing cellphones and selling parts and accessories.
Last Friday, the hall close to where he sells his wares was a hive of activity. Hawkers, small businessmen and traders packed the building to listen to advice from government officials and business development organisations.
Giyani falls under the Greater Giyani Municipality, which is part of the Mopani District Municipality in Limpopo. According to the 2011 census, the total population of Giyani is 244 217 with the number of households at 63 537. The municipality has 30 wards, grouped into five clusters.
Greater Giyani has 60 councillors and 10 traditional authority areas, which comprise 91 villages. It is the only town within the municipality, attracting many people from around the district seeking employment.
According to Statistics SA, the unemployment rate in the Greater Giyani municipality stands at 47%, while youth unemployment is at 61.2%. But there is hope that these figures could be tackled through the Township and Village Revitalisation Project.
Last week’s imbizo in the town was part of the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism’s (LEDET) Township and Village Revitalisation project roadshow.
LEDET will be visiting five townships and villages in the province “to listen, share ideas and communicate with communities…”
The department says this is a process to help it revitalise and radically transform the township and village economies.
LEDET MEC Seaparo Sekoati says the vision of the Township and Village Revitalization Strategy (TVRS) is “to build dynamic and sustainable township enterprises with an objective of an inclusive, labour absorbing and growing township and village economy”.
Through the TVRS LEDET hopes to interact with all business sectors including street vendors such as Rikhotso, taverners, minibus taxi owners, spaza owners, burial societies, stokvels, hair salon owners and other informal business owners including panel beaters, auto mechanics and plumbers.
Sekoati says the TVRS aims to create an enabling and supportive environment, based on eight strategic focus areas for township and village economy revitalisation, to ensure township and village enterprises become key players in the Limpopo economy.
Hawkers such as Rikhotso seldom have the time to visit government offices, so when government comes to them as they did at last Friday’s roadshow, they embraced the opportunity.
Rikhotso took time off from his stall to attend the imbizo while a fellow vendor looked after his business.
Sekoati, including officials from the Limpopo Economic Development Agency (LEDA), Limpopo Tourism Agency (LTA), National Empowerment Fund (NEF), municipalities and business chambers sat through the day-long proceedings listening to suggestions, concerns and complaints from the businesspeople who attended.
Among the issues raised was the fact that the small town of Giyani has many informal businesspeople who do not have proper stalls or spaces to run their businesses.
They also raised issues concerning lack of infrastructure and services such as toilets, running water and that most do not know how to access government or related agencies for support.
LEDA managing director Ben Mphahlele, whose organisation supports emerging business and employs 611 people in the Mopani district alone, said he supports the idea of building proper stalls for hawkers.
Mphahlele said LEDA needs to strengthen local offices to ensure that emerging businesses receive the required assistance timeously.
He said 1 500 businesspeople from Mopani have been trained in business management by LEDA and that 20 local entrepreneurs will be given grants to improve their production levels.
Ishmael Mogoboya from the NEF said while they receive many promising business applications seeking funding, access to markets remained a serious challenge. He said they are working out ways of helping entrepreneurs to gain access to markets.
Rikhotso said he was hopeful he will achieve his dream of owning a proper store after last week’s imbizo. On the day of the imbizo, he made a paltry R130. He struggles to attract customers when it rains and hopes he will get support to move into a proper store or stall, which will allow him to continue doing business even when in bad weather.
“I need my own cellphone shop. But I have no money. I hope that by coming to us the government is showing that it wants to help us,” he said.
His neighbour Themba Sombane is in the same situation. He sells leather belts, which he says don’t sell as fast as he wishes, because sometimes clients don’t feel comfortable fitting them in the bustling street.
“We are tired of being in the open,” he said. “We want shops.”