SA unrest: how locals are rebuilding the country

Last week, former Orlando Pirates defender Lucky Lekgwathi’s R400,000 investment and retirement dream were wrecked — casualties of the unrest in parts of SA.

Grootman, Lekgwathi’s kota restaurant in Kliptown, Soweto, was just five months old when it was vandalised, its equipment trashed beyond repair.

"As much as this was an investment in my future, it was also for my community," he tells the FM.

"I am still hoping that it will grow as a brand and we can franchise; I am hoping that other soccer players and investors can buy a franchise — you know, like ‘Grootman by Siphiwe Tshabalala’ has a nice ring to it," he jokes.

Lekgwathi has had to dig deep to find humour in the moment — and the ability to forgive those who robbed him of his dream.

"I believe that God has forgiven me for my sins, who am I not to forgive?" he says.

The generosity of others has helped in no small measure. "South Africans have reached out to me and encouraged me to open a bank account for my rebuilding fund. So far, they have raised over R20,000."

But focusing on coming to the aid of the less fortunate has helped too. Lekgwathi and his team, together with local NGO Kasi Heroes and Boxer Superstores, spent the weekend handing out food parcels and blankets to elderly residents of Soweto.

Among them was Justinah Nene, 69, a retired school cleaner, who has lived and worked in Pimville for more than 40 years. In that time, she says, she’s never seen the kind of destruction of infrastructure that she saw last week. It moved her so much that she and other elderly members of the community stood their ground to prevent the looting of Maponya Mall and other smaller shops in the area.

"I am so grateful for these food packages, because everything is closed now," she says. "We have nothing to show for what happened — we can’t even get our pension because there’s no money anywhere."

Kasi Heroes chair and co-founder Ndivhuwo Liphadzi says he has been overwhelmed by the support the initiative has received. Though the deliveries had been planned in advance — a good deed to commemorate Nelson Mandela Day on July 18 — he was surprised at the level of generosity, given the looting of the previous days.

"We felt it was still important to go ahead with our plans as these were the people most likely to suffer the consequences of having shops that are closed," says Liphadzi. "The elderly are always at risk, but especially now as there is load-shedding and food scarcity."

Like Lekgwathi’s Grootman, Boxer Superstores, which largely operates in low-income communities, was hit hard by the looting.

Ntombi Dludla, the chain store’s group executive for stakeholder engagement and sustainability, tells the FM the group had to help, as partnering with communities is what Boxer is all about.

"It’s critically important for our elder citizens to be supported through these trying times, as these are the people in our sector who we associate ourselves with," she says.

As grocery stores that weren’t vandalised beyond repair take tentative steps towards reopening, small traders such as Hlengiwe Shandu are holding SA’s fragile township economies together.

Gemisquare Cakes, Shandu’s bakery in Kingsburgh, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), has been operating since 2017. She only recently started selling bread, but demand has gone through the roof in the wake of the riots. Despite the shortage of bread and increased demand, she has refused to raise her prices above the R8.50 she usually charges for brown bread, and R10 for white.

"I don’t want to lie, I have been struggling to keep up with all the requests on social media and WhatsApp," she tells the FM. "I have over 4,000 messages on WhatsApp alone which I have yet to attend to."

But running a small bakery, there’s only so much she can do. "My goal right now is to serve as many people as I can because I know how it feels not to have something to eat," she says.

In the long term, however, she wants to create jobs. "I want to be able to employ more people. People are desperate for jobs, and I am desperate for capacity. I want them to have an opportunity to sustain themselves and not resort to desperate measures."

Though the costs of last weekend’s looting spree are still being calculated, Gauteng premier David Makhura believes it has set the township economy back at least 10 years.

Tebogo Phiri, founder and owner of Disoufeng Pub in Soweto, is among those affected. He’s focused on getting his business back to normal so that he can keep 83 people on his payroll and navigate the pandemic.

My goal right now is to serve as many people as I can because I know how it feels not to have something to eat

—  Hlengiwe Shandu

Though Disoufeng was spared physical destruction during the unrest, it still had to close for several days. But adapting and finding workarounds have been part of the business since the lockdowns began.

"We had to fast-track the creation of our app, on which customers can order food and have it delivered to their doorstep," he says.

This allowed his staff to make extra income. By using their own vehicles to deliver food, they were able to cover some of the tips they had lost when sit-down dining was curtailed.

By the time the third wave hit and the latest level 4 lockdown was imposed, some of Disoufeng’s customers insisted on being able to eat in the parking lot. This presented another opportunity for Phiri to retain staff.

"We have the capacity to host almost 70 cars, but to adhere to lockdown regulations we keep it at 30 cars at a time, and we have a pop-up menu that customers can enjoy in their cars," he says.

As communities in Gauteng and KZN grapple with the ramifications of the looting — while navigating the lockdown restrictions — the business owners who operate in these places are holding SA together. And they’ve taken it upon themselves to rebuild the country.

It’s the small enterprises in violence-hit areas that are helping their communities to survive

—  What it means:

Mercy food flights

Jacqui Swart has been living in New Zealand for most of the past five years. After hearing that her sister in Salt Rock, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), had just two tins of food left to ration for herself and her cat after the recent unrest, Swart knew she had to get help.

"I thought, this is not happening to my own sister," she says. "I’m going to do whatever I need to do to get food to her."

Years ago, Swart had started training to be a pilot. Though she didn’t finish the course, she still has friends in the aviation industry. With the roads closed, she knew the only way to get food to her sister was to fly it in — and so she reached out for help.

A pilot said he would fly for free, but that he needed fuel costs to be covered.

"My mom and I bought the supplies and he loaded the plane and flew down to get the much-needed food and essentials to her," says Swart.

Before the pilot left, he said there was 100kg of space still available, so she asked her sister to get in touch with the community to see who was in need. The response was huge.

"I did what I could, and we managed to fill the plane to maximum capacity," she says.

And so they flew baby porridge, nappies, formula, basic food items and water from Joburg to the worst-affected parts of KZN. After getting her sister stocked up for a few weeks, Swart helped hundreds of others, including orphans, the elderly, domestic workers and people who had lost their jobs.

"I thought: ‘Wow, if one flight could do that and I could fund that with a relatively small amount ... If I could have that impact and I’m just one person, what could many people do?’" she says.

"I’ve got the contacts, the pilot friends, the connections who can help with security, and I’m in touch with who’s really in need. The only thing I don’t have is the money."

Swart’s mother made a flyer for social media, and people from around the world started to donate. "I didn’t think it would escalate as quickly as it did, but it has and it’s amazing," she says.

So far, Swart has raised enough money to send six full flights to KZN, each carrying about 200kg of food. Now that the roads are open, she can make the donations stretch further by trucking goods in. She’s also used funds to buy Shoprite vouchers for community centres, orphanages and the elderly, now that shops are reopening.

"It’s not about me — it’s about people in SA coming together," she says. "It’s about unity, it’s about an unfailing faith and trust, and it’s just about the SA people and their spirit of ubuntu ... I’m blown away that I was able to just put something on Facebook and say: ‘Mates, I need some planes, hit me up,’ and the next thing my inbox was flooded — different colours, different races and different walks of life all in unity … it’s incredible."

Adele Shevel