Khayelitsha gets its groove on
In a few years’ time, Khayelitsha will ‘disappear’, and the township will become a city, believes one local entrepreneur
Khayelitsha, stretching across a vast area along False Bay on the Cape Flats, is Cape Town’s fastest-growing township. Coffee shops, eateries and a young, aspirant middle-class are making a welcome change to the township’s crime-ridden streets.
Thirty-year-old Shorn Khumalo, who was born in the township, is the founder of public relations company The Client Media. Khumalo is eager to discover up and coming local entrepreneurs in Khayelitsha and offer them a platform to advertise their businesses more efficiently.
The economy in the bustling township is small but growing, and the 2011 census by Statistics South Africa pointed to significant expansion of the middle class. In 2001 very few households earned more than R25000 a month, but 10 years later about 1400 households earned that amount. The latest official figures are more than a decade old, but, anecdotally at least, the middle class is continuing on its growth trajectory.
There have been local initiatives to boost residents, such as support for small and medium enterprises, which offers entrepreneurs a chance to start their own small businesses.
With Khumalo as a tour guide, the streets of Khayelitsha, which has both formal and informal settlements, come alive.
“Khayelitsha is amazing … in a few years it will be a city: the township will disappear and it will become a city — you don’t have to leave; you have everything here,” says Juma Mkwela, co-owner of Khoffe Khaltsha and a bicycle shop next to the Khayelitsha Mall.
Khaltsha is a portmanteau of the words “Khayelitsha” and “culture” — which the township has in abundance.
But deeply rooted in the township life is the gang culture that attracts most media attention. The Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry investigated allegations of police inefficiency in the township in 2014, but the probe yielded few results, because its recommendations were ignored.
Instead, regular murders make the headlines. In 2019-20 Khayelitsha came second to Delft, also on the Cape Flats, as the area in which the most murders occur.
But when you put on your traveller’s boots and make use of a tour guide who knows the streets, you might find heartening stories that seldom make the news headlines.
Local merchandise, like the Deep Settle Movement’s “local is dope” shirts, displays a vibrant culture, and the thriving street vendors and young entrepreneurs are proof of a growing economy.
On Spine Road, there are a wide variety of eateries at which street food or African cuisine at the international award-winning 4Roomed Ekasi Culture restaurant, can fill an empty stomach.
At Embengweni, Vuyelwa Dingalubala explains how she learned to make umbengo from her mother, who has owned a braai stand since 1988. From early in the morning, fires and stacks of roasting meat at the informal meat traders’ square send off an appetising aroma that attracts both hungry locals and visitors.
Dingalubala believes her umbengo is unique because of how she braais it. “I do it with love and passion. And I’m happy while doing it. [Success] depends on how you approach your customer, and how you braai your meat,” she says, explaining how she starts the fire and covers the roaster with a large metal plate until it is hot before placing her meat on the fire.
Dingalubala also rewards her loyal customers, giving those who order more than R100 of meat an extra piece free of charge, or “pasela”.
It is mostly women standing at the braais. Dingalubala was taught how to braai when she was 12 years old. She would return from school and watch her mother braai. Today, her daughter, Endinako, which is isixhosa for “what I have” — is also learning how to braai after school.
In Phakamisa — which means “lift up” — barista Sikelela Dibela is inculcating a new coffee culture among locals at his Siki’s Koffee Kafe which he started in 2016. He wanted to wean residents off instant coffee by
introducing a “bean-to-cup” philosophy, and educating people about the different coffee blends.
“With instant coffee, people drink too much sugar — some even five spoons — which is unhealthy,” says Dibela, whose grandmother first introduced him to coffee by giving him and his siblings each a sip of instant coffee from a small plate.
After a recent crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, the café, which Dibela operates from his home, acquired a brand-new coffee roaster.
Dibela’s past is as inspirational as his quaint café. He describes himself as a “high-school dropout”, who ended up washing dishes at Vida e Caffè. He then began to climb the ladder, first by making sandwiches and baking, and eventually becoming a store manager.
Dibela was also partly responsible for opening new Vida e Caffès in the UK, where he lived and worked for two years. During his career at the coffee-shop franchise, he had multiple coffee mentors who taught him the art of coffee-making.
Today, Dibela also trains a young barista, Lunga Raphahlela; together, they welcome visitors from all over the world. In his visitors’ book, travellers from Copenhagen, the US, Italy, Rome and Spain, to name a few, write raving compliments for Siki’s Koffee Kafe.
At Khoffe Khaltsha and Khaltsha Cycles, Mkwela and his co-founder, Sindile Mavundla, hope to establish a culture of coffee — and bicycles. Mkwela is an esteemed street artist, who has been in tourism for more than 15 years. He focuses on responsible and sustainable tourism.
“We don’t believe in taking advantage of communities: we want tourists to become part of the community … by taking part in different projects,” he explains.
Projects include making art and home gardens. They have painted more than 200 murals in Khayelitsha that are educational, inspirational and tell stories. Their sustainable tourism efforts include more than 100 home gardens planted by tourists and locals.
“Most of our guests come and go into the community, so when they leave, those are the moments they will remember: of visiting a family and starting a garden together,” Mkwela says.
Mavundla, who started cycling at the age of five, assists in teaching people how to ride. Since the store opened four months ago, 80 people have already taken cycling classes. “People don’t know how to ride, but are eager to learn,” says Mavundla, outlining plans to open more cycling stores in other townships.
As he stands outside the containers from which the shops operate, Mkwela says the pair wants to act as an example for young people and hopefully build a better future for their communities.
Back in the touring bus with Khumalo, he notes: “Khayelitsha is a concrete jungle: you learn to swim, or sink”. He agrees there is an upcoming middle-class in Khayelitsha, who “only now became the talk of the town”.
But, Mkwela adds, this class needs to become “bolder, and louder” so that they can help to boost positive developments in the township.