Wedding industry facing ruin
INDUSTRY professionals fear that the country’s wedding industry is facing “mass closures and job losses”, a survey by a media consultancy firm has found.
Conducted last month as a follow up to the South African Wedding Industry Report for 2020, the Crazy Grape survey found that while 44.2% of respondents did not envisage their businesses closing, the remaining respondents projected their businesses would close within one (11.4%), three (21.3%) or six months (22.9%) should the sector remain closed.
The respondents, who are primarily based in the Western Cape and Gauteng, include wedding planners, venue managers, photographers, make-up artists, florists, decor hire specialists, caterers and bridal boutique companies.
Tracy Branford, wedding planner and director of Trunk Events, has written a letter to Co-operative Governance minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma pushing for the sector to open by September under regulated safety guidelines.
In the letter, Branford said: “The government is denying a substantial portion of our society the right to engage in economic activity and to earn a basic living. It is not difficult to see how this will play out, on a national level, in time.”
Queencess Styled Events chief executive Zilungile Mgqibi-Gankama said: “I was forced to cancel several weddings set for the summer (because) nobody can be sure what the situation will be.
“It is an expensive business cancelling weddings as you have to pay back suppliers and others. Most of the weddings have been postponed indefinitely, as were other events such as baby showers and baby naming ceremonies which are tied to a specific time and can’t really be postponed.”
Statistics SA released the statistics on liquidations and insolvencies for May and last month. The number of liquidations rose from zero in April, during which only essential services were allowed to operate, to 195 in May and 134 last month.
The estimated number of insolvencies decreased by 79.3% in May 2020 compared with May 2019. A 35.5% decrease was estimated in the first five months of 2020 compared with the first five months of 2019,” StatsSA said.
Absa economist Miyelani Maluleke said: “On the surface of it, this may seem a surprising result, given the extreme pressure on many businesses from the pandemic and lockdown restrictions. However, we believe the subdued prints reflect simply the length of time it takes to liquidate a company, especially if it is a compulsory liquidation, as opposed to a voluntary one.
“Moreover, these figures are also much lower than usual, which could perhaps be an indication that the government authority that processes liquidations and insolvencies could be working at a reduced capacity.
“Undoubtedly, the unprecedented economic contraction from Covid-19 will push some firms out of business, but there is considerably uncertainty about the scale and pace of this, given the government’s efforts to cushion the impact of Covid-19,” said Malukeke.