Struggling business owners along Lillian Ngoyi Street, former Bree Street, hope they will get their customers back and things will be back to normal as construction is expected to finally come to completion after the 2023 explosion.
The deadline for the completion of the road was last week Saturday and Joburg Mayor Dada Morero was on Monday expected to celebrate the completion of phase one and announce the start of phase two.
Latest reports show that the first phase of the rehabilitation project has cost the city R64m, with the total project estimated at R192m.
However, businesses along the street told Sowetan they were waiting in anticipation, with many sceptical about whether the reopening will bring their customers back.
For Emmanuel Ekwe, a 45-year-old shoe shop owner, the past two years have been unbearable.
“Ten years I have been working here, building this business step by step, pushing every day just to survive. And then after this tragedy, everything collapsed. For two years now, there has been no business. All the roads are closed, customers no longer come here to support us, and we are suffering in these areas. I have three people depending on me to put food on the table, and every day I feel like I am failing them,” he said.
Ten years I have been working here, building this business step by step, pushing every day just to survive. And then after this tragedy, everything collapsed. For two years now, there has been no business.
— Emmanuel Ekwe, shop owner
Sowetan had posed questions to the Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) for further comment upon noticing that they were constructing a brick pavement and not tar. However, the JRA said they would not be answering questions until the opening reveal on Monday, September 1.
The road was closed in July 2023 following a gas explosion which claimed at least 15 lives and left many others injured. The explosion resulted in the collapse of about 450m of Lillian Ngoyi between Harrison and Kruis Streets.
Ekwe said before the explosion, he could see up to 30 customers in a single day. Now, he sometimes goes weeks without a sale.
“In a whole month, I maybe sell one or two pairs of shoes, and that cannot even cover rent, let alone food. Business is extremely bad,” he said.
Still, he pins his hopes on the completion of the roadworks.
“I cannot wait to see the road finished and opened again. I believe once it is open, things will slowly go back to normal because people will not be afraid to come here anymore.”
For salon worker Nana Mthombeni, the issue has not only been the absence of customers but also constant disruptions in basic services.
“The salon has suffered a lot. They cut the electricity for two weeks, and then again three weeks, and sometimes 10 days at a time. When there is no electricity, we cannot work at all. Clients book appointments and then cancel because they know we may not have power or water. Bree Street used to be one of the busiest streets in the CBD, but now it is like a ghost town,” she said.
Nana said she struggled to pay her R1,500 rent.
“Before, I could easily make enough to pay my rent and still provide for myself. Now, with the lack of clients, I struggle even to cover that. I’ve been here for 10 years and we cannot just move out — this is where we built our business and our clients know us here. But now new clients are scared, they talk about the explosion, and they don’t want to come down to the basement salon. It is a big problem.”
For Linah Langa, a street trader who has worked on Lillian Ngoyi Street for 27 years, the changes have been devastating.
“My customers are afraid to come back. Many of them used to travel from Eldorado Park, Soweto, even further, but now they don’t want to risk it,” Langa said.
She said she goes home empty-handed as compared to before.
“Before, I could make R400 to R500 a day. Now, I don’t even reach half of that. Some days I make nothing. I feel horrible. I cannot even put food on the table some days. I am stressed all the time, but I have no choice this business is all I know,” she said.
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