Unrest sinks Raphael’s clothing business
Insurance turns down claim
A businesswoman who took all her savings to start up a clothing brand to better her life and create jobs is now facing a bleak future after her goods were burnt down during the recent unrest.
Tembisa-based Pozie Clothing founder Yvette Raphael suffered a loss of R11,000 worth of ordered clothing items when a warehouse they were stored in was set alight in Durban two weeks ago, putting four jobs at risk. Raphael only had the clothes that were ordered in the shop.
Raphael told Sowetan she took all her savings to buy more equipment, including sewing machines, after she became one of the township’s small businesses to trade their products at the Mall of Tembisa last year.
“I took my last cent to start the business to create African print clothing items and the loss is a huge setback for me as it would take me more than a year to recover financially. I’m heartbroken because those burnt items were paid for already and waiting to be dispatched to the customers,” she said.
“I’m even more frustrated since the insurance company told me it can’t pay for the loss because it was not theft.
“Since the start of the looting and burning we had to close down. We are now facing more financial stress because we couldn’t trade,” she said.
Raphael, who is also an HIV/Aids activist, is one of 11 small entrepreneurs who trade at the Mall of Tembisa for zero rental through Kasi Co-LAB.
The Kasi Co-LAB is a township designers emporium that allows local designers the opportunity to trade from a prime location within the mall for zero rental and select new business to do the same after a year.
Raphael urged government to intervene and compensate small businesses that suffered during the mayhem.
“Our government should pay us for our loss in order for us to keep jobs and businesses running.
“My four employees are at home doing nothing because we can’t work,” she said.
Raphael added that she had lots of orders but she couldn’t dispatch them because courier companies refused to be on the road for safety reasons.