A Soweto businessman who lost millions of rands worth of stock and equipment during the violent unrest says he is still determined to invest in the township despite suffering the devastating loss.
On Monday, Tony Mkhabela, owner of the T&N Butchery next to Jabulani Mall began cleaning up his business premises to prepare for resumption of operations.
Mkhabela, a businessman since 1998, opened the butchery in 2006. Over the years he said he spent millions of rand in equipment and structure investment to become one of the most trusted suppliers of meat and associated products in Soweto. However, last week Monday rampaging looters arrived and destroyed his assets while also also stealing stock worth over R200,000, according to Mkhabela.
But the determined businessman said he was ready to reinvest in the township economy by growing his business to become more efficient.
“I will always invest in my people because I believe in my people. I understand why they are doing this. Our people do not have strong leadership. The leadership that we have is in a slave mentality. You cannot expect people who want to enjoy the best of the white world to liberate our people," he said.
“You cannot expect people who like sipping expensive whisky and driving Mercedes-Benz to lead people to freedom. It will never happen. Our people are envying the kind of life that the leaders live. There is also looting of the state that has been taking place for longer periods.”
Looters invaded his butchery before hitting Jabulani Mall closeby. Mkhabela said some of his fridges were still holding up and that he may have to look for second hand equipment such as scales and tills to resume business. But he admitted that meat cutters will be out of reach for some time.
“I’m going to cut my meat in other butcheries until the insurance payout comes through.”
Mkhabela said because his operation would be starting from the bottom, he will resume with just four people out of the 15 had employed before his business was plundered.
“I will have to have at least two security guards to ensure the place is safe. I know, that this may not be enough when the crowd comes to loot.”
Mkhabela said among other tools he would use to grow and market his business would be to create a website and to use social media platforms. He plans to add scooter delivery service for household deliveries of purchases made and paid for online.
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