Resilience in times of hardship
AS THE country moved into a hard lockdown because of Covid-19, millions of South Africans’ lives would be changed forever.
For full-time fashion and portrait photographer Rizqua Barnes, life would come to an abrupt halt as the country entered into uncharted territory.
With all events and functions cancelled in the country, Barnes was left with no work and therefore no income.
“The pandemic hit me with major blows. Weddings and events were cancelled or down-sized and being a freelancer, it left me with virtually no income. I also suffered severe anxiety which at times left me paralysed,” she added.
While the lockdown may have left her without any work or income, it gave Barnes an opportunity to reflect on her future.
Instead of wallowing in her grief, Barnes grabbed her camera and set off to work in her community of Athlone, to capture how the pandemic had affected people there.
Her online exhibition “Renaissance” forms part of the inaugural “People’s Photography Exhibition”, launched last weekend.
The People’s Photography is a revolutionary platform which aims to change the gaze and narrative and put power in the hands of the people via visual story-telling.
Barnes is one of 13 photographers who feature, focusing on communities coping with Covid-19, and the resilience of the South Africans during this challenging period.
Launched by Tribal Alchemy Productions, it is the first of its kind in South Africa, and is online because of the pandemic.
The project
is funded by the
WITH remote working becoming commonplace, more people are moving to seaside towns and areas usually considered holiday destinations, and Mossel Bay is coming up tops for coastal living in the Western Cape.
While many parts of that province enjoyed massive growth in house sales in January and February this year, Mossel Bay is one of the emerging so-called “Zoom towns”’ enjoying a boom in property sales and rentals.
Chief executive of Betterbond Carl Coetzee said homeowners, now able to work remotely, are making lifestyle choices when considering where to buy a home.
Quality of life, peace of mind and falling under a municipality that operates efficiently are among the key considerations for buyers wanting to invest in property.
“With interest rates at their lowest in more than 50 years, making it more affordable to apply for a bond for a dream home along the coast, we are seeing more buyers moving away from the cities.
“Mossel Bay ticks many of these boxes. It offers natural beauty in abundance, has a strong sense of community and is one of the best-run municipalities in the country,” said Coetzee.
Rating agency, Ratings Afrika, has just named Mossel Bay as South Africa’s most financially sustainable
National Arts Council, as a part of the PESP (The Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme) creating employment opportunities for 25 people with the online exhibition, as well as the physical event launch.
Barnes’s exhibition consists of 25 images. She carefully selected individuals from her community whose lives had been severely affected.
“To me, this exhibition is a showcase of the resilience of the human spirit. It’s a showcase of people standing up after getting knocked down by life, and this pandemic; and recreating themselves completely. I find it amazing that some people came together to celebrate that,” she said.
It took Barnes a week to capture the photos of all her subjects.
“I chose these people from my community because they stood out as people who had lost all means of income, picked themselves up and then started working on not only their own survival, but also used their skills to benefit the community,” says Barnes.
“I needed to expose the hope that municipalities saying it offers a seaside lifestyle with access to excellent educational opportunities as well as other amenities.
Just Property franchisee for Mossel Bay, Cobus van den Berg, said he has seen a significant increase in the rand value of deals done in Mossel Bay since the start of 2021, as well as the number of sales.
Indicative of the semigration trend is the changing age of recent buyers.
TPN data, which checks rentals, schools and businesses, shows demand has pushed up rental values in both full-title and sectional title properties and rental yields remained solid at just more than 8% and 7% for full title and sectional title properties respectively.
“We attribute this to massive semigration from Gauteng, and we are can come out of the loss that many people have suffered. This pandemic was the ideal opportunity to have a simple shift in mindset of what we thought was a regular way of earning an income.”
One of Barnes’s first subjects was her parents’ neighbour, “Uncle Rafiek”, who is a building contractor by trade but had lost all his contracts.
“Instead of going for broke, he started buying and hawking fresh fruit and vegetables from his home. When our household tested positive for the virus, I was brought to tears when I opened our front door and there I found a box of fresh fruit and vegetables which he dropped off for our use.
“This touched me because of the humanity that shone through and how our community was prepared to unselfishly share whatever they could to lighten the burden.”
Another of Barnes’s subjects was her own neighbour, Wasfie, a chef whose job became redundant during the pandemic.
“Wasfie, is a qualified chef and his job was also made redundant. Instead seeing considerable interest from other provinces in the rental space,” he said.
Van den Berg added that the proposed gas production works also created a pipeline of speculative interest to the area.
While Mossel Bay still offers value for money, the demand for homes since the pandemic broke last year, is causing prices to rise.
A three-bedroom home with a double garage sells for about R1.8 million. of moping, both he and his wife, Kaltuma, literally rolled up their sleeves and started making delicious, nutritious and affordable meals and pizzas on a daily basis for the community.
“This was huge for me because I realised how this lockdown limited people’s visits to the supermarkets or their daily meals. Wasfie and Kaltuma were and still are our life lines.
“I hope to showcase the common peoples’ resilience in times of hardship and also to use my skills to be more involved in community work – and of course this platform may create work in many other directions.
“This exhibition has jerked me out of the comfort of always being surrounded by fashionable events,” says Barnes, who has been a professional photographer for more than 13 years now.
She describes her journey during her latest exhibition as exhilarating and says she learnt valuable lessons along the way. “I felt they (the people) were most deserving – interviewing them humbled me.”
MARKET DATA FOR MOSSEL BAY FROM MAY 2020 – APRIL 2021 SHOWS:
■ 57% of existing owners have owned for 11 years and more. 22% have owned for less than 5 years.
■ 43% of recent sellers have owned for less than 5 years. 38% have owned for more than 11 years.
■ 39% of recent buyers are aged 50-65 (mature), 32% are aged 36-49 (middle-aged).
■ 40% of recent sellers are aged 50-65 (mature), 32% are aged 65+ (pensioner).
■ There were 112 1st time registrations (new developments) and 1 269 repeat sales.
■ Sectional schemes and vacant land have seen positive growth (up 30%+ and 9% respectively) year-on-year, but freehold property prices have taken a 15% knock.
■ There is a a divergence between asking price and sale price of 40%.
Property24 noted that the average asking price for a Mossel Bay home has inched up from R1.55m to R1.64m this year.
But, most properties sell for around the R1 million mark, according to the portal.
Similar trends are evident in other seaside towns, said Paul Stevens, chief executive at Just Property.
Langebaan also recorded phenomenal growth in value and sales in the
“One of the most important things that I learnt while shooting for the exhibit is that we tend to overlook the worth of ordinary people who surround us. Our people are like fynbos who need to burn down before they show their brilliance with their regrowth, hence the title “Renaissance”.
Barnes says she’s incredibly proud of the final product and hopes that her work resonates with other South Africans. “I tend to sidestep vanity as photography is my passion and I am happy just to photograph, but I must admit that I was proud of the end product of this exhibition.
“I have to also be honest that my nerves were shot, as it was the first time that my work was being exhibited on such a huge national platform.”
¡ The People’s Photography Exhibition will remain online for a period of one year, and photographs will be available to purchase online before the end of May, after the exhibition launch date. To view the exhibition, go to: www. thepeoplesphotography.com
first two months of the year.
Rental demand remains high, with the average rental for a full title property at R11 900 towards the end of last year.
Just Property said house and sectional title prices are also steadily increasing in George, which has seen a 59% increase in the rand value of deals concluded during the first few months of the year.
According to Lightstone property data, the price premium between coastal properties and their inland counterparts continues to widen.
In November, coastal properties’ inflation was up 5.5% compared with inland inflation of 3.9%.
Agents agree that the new trends are probably due to the hype around ‘zoom towns’ and the inevitable optimism from sellers that has followed.
Lightstone said house prices in the North West, Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape have been growing at increasing rates and they now top provincial growth.
The semigration movement is also seeing a reinvigoration of many coastal towns inhabited largely in the past by retirees, and which are now experiencing an influx of younger families who were previously tied logistically to lives in big cities.
Smaller coastal cities such as Port Elizabeth and East London have also seen a surge in sales, with Nelson Mandela Bay the leading metro in the residential housing market.