Businesses hard hit as riots disrupt deliveries

Thousands of businesses in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal which have been hit by sporadic looting sprees remained shut on Tuesday as the dire affect of the unrest started to emerge.

On Tuesday, as the looting of shops continued unabated in parts of the two provinces despite the introduction of the SA National Defence Force by President Cyril Ramaphosa, the delivery of goods continued to be negatively affected.

Tiger Brands, which owns Albany bakeries, told Sowetan on Tuesday that its bakery operations and distribution have been interrupted in KwaZulu-Natal mainly due to the disruption of supply and closure of customer businesses.

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“To ensure the safety of our employees, we have temporarily closed all our bakeries in the province. In Gauteng, delivery of bread is constrained due to challenges in accessing certain areas of the market,” Tiger Brands spokesperson Kanyisa Ndyondya said.

Ndyondya said this was also caused by a number of customer stores being closed as a preventive measure.

“Where the situation is volatile and it is not safe for our employees to come to work we have temporarily closed operations.  As a provider of essential food to South Africans we will continue to distribute bread where it is safe to do so,” said Ndyondya.

The company plans to restore bread delivery in areas that are deemed too dangerous now only when calm has been restored.

The supply and sale of fresh produce in Gauteng was not spared.

Spokesperson for the Joburg Market, Hope Mabaso, said sales at Gauteng biggest fresh produce market had gone down by 50%.

“There has been less people coming to buy. Supply has also been reduced. There were few trucks that delivered stock,” Mabaso said.

He said they had stock that would only last for “several days”.

Pick n Pay head of strategy David north said the retailer had lost stock and was affected along other businesses by the disruption which took place in the two provinces and that it had been forced to temporarily close its Pick n Pay and Boxer retail shops in the affected areas for safety purposes.

“We have had disruptions to deliveries in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, and we are working hard with our teams to restock our stores as soon as the situation calms and the safety of our people can be assured,” he said.

North said it was too early to give an assessment of the affect of the looting.

With much violence and looting having taken place in nearby Alexandra township, Sandton City management announced that they would close the doors of the upmarket shopping mall by 4pm on Tuesday with no clarity when it would open today.

“Sandton City is aware of the ongoing violent protests taking place in and about Johannesburg. As a precautionary measure, the decision has been made to close the mall at 4pm on Tuesday. This is not a decision taken lightly, but the safety and security of shoppers and tenants is of the utmost importance to Sandton City. Additional security measures have been put in place,” mall management said.

Individual businesses already tallied up the losses.

Tony Mkhabela, who runs a butchery in Soweto right next to Jabulani Mall, was left speechless after seeing looters ransack his business.

Mkhabela said he lost stock worth R200,000 which was meant to last until next week. Machinery worth R1m was also taken, including a safe with cash in it.

“What was disturbing to me is that witnesses informed me that some of the people that were looting my business are my neighbours. I really don’t understand why people are behaving like this. I think as black people we have self-hatred,” Mkhabela.

Mkhabela said he was one of the few black businesses operating in the area.

“People don’t know that us participating in that business is progress for them as a collective.

He said that his business T&T Butchery employs 15 workers. Their future now will depend on whether insurance is able to pay for all the damage that has been caused by the looters,” Mkhabela said. — Additional Reporting Siviwe Feketha