When President Cyril Ramaphosa extended the country’s first hard lockdown, a pastor had to rely on handouts and a reprieve on his rent to survive, while a salon owner was forced to retrench all her 29 employees and close her two salons.
Steven Ndlovu, 33, a pastor from Diepkloof, Soweto, and Smangele Sibisi, 30, a salon owner from Protea, also in Soweto, told Sowetan of how their lives were changed after the lockdown forced them to leave their full-time jobs.
During the hard lockdown, church gatherings were not allowed and most businesses who don’t provide essential service had to temporarily close.
Ndlovu, whose only source of income was ministering in Diepkloof, said his financial problems started piling up after Ramaphosa extended the lockdown indefinitely in April from the initial 21 days he announced in March last year. .
“During the 21 days, everything was going well. I thought things will bounce back after 21 days,” said Ndlovu.
Ndlovu said extension meant that all churches could not open and he didn’t know how he was going to survive and support his family.
“I had lost my job. I didn’t know how I was going to buy food and pay rent. I had a lot of debt. My landlord also told me to stop paying rent because he knew the kind of work I was doing. Things got worse. It was so tough and painful,” said Ndlovu.
The father of two said good Samaritans from the church provided food for his family during their time of need.
“They thought about us. Things were not okay at home. They offered me and my family food. I couldn’t ask for more.”
Ndlovu ventured into forex trading to make a living while he was also serving in the church.
Life for Sibisi was also unbearable as she was drowning in debt. She owned two salons, one in the Johannesburg CBD and the other in the Pretoria CBD, and had 29 employees and making R200,000 a month.
Her problems also began after the first extension of lockdown.
“We had finances to pay our employees before the extension. My stylists started panicking after the extension,” said Sibisi.
Her expenses soon started piling up and she eventually had to close doors. “We had no money. Our landlord expected rent, I had to pay my staff and accountant, buy (hair) products and we could not do house calls. Everything was on a standstill,” said Sibisi.
She was forced to terminate contracts of her staff in August. The young entrepreneur opened a new salon in Diepkloof near Bara taxi rank in September, with only five people.
This too did not survive and closed down in February because she was struggling to pay rent. She then moved and opened another salon next to where she lives in Protea.
She now has four workers and makes only about R70,000 a month compared to the R200,000 pre-Covid-19.
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