The story of Amos Vilakazi, a tuck shop owner from Soweto who has successfully run his business for 20 years, ought to be an inspirational case study in entrepreneurial resilience.
But Vilakazi's story has turned into a tragic tale familiar to many small business owners, especially in townships and rural settings across the country. His business has been pushed to the edge by a crippling nine-month blackout that is now threatening his family’s livelihood.
The tuck shop is one of many homes in Doornkop Ext 4 in Soweto that were left in the dark after a transformer that supplies electricity to the area blew up nine months ago. Vilakazi’s booming business of selling kotas has stopped and he has had to buy eight primus stoves and two gas cylinders to keep his store open, selling other items at a great cost.
The problem facing Vilakazi is not unique to his business as crippling rolling blackouts owing to load-shedding have pushed many small business owners to the brink. The prolonged blackouts are a crisis for several reasons. The government has often told us that small businesses are an important driver of economic growth, job creation and helping the country recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, according to Stats SA, small businesses contributed R2.3-trillion to the total R10-trillion of business turnover in 2019. Employment is one of the biggest ways small businesses can contribute to the economy yet the government continues to turn a blind eye to the troubling realities faced by business owners like Vilakazi and pay lip service to the sector’s role in economic recovery.
The current high levels of unemployment can only be reversed if the government plays its role in creating a conducive environment for small businesses to thrive. This means sorting out the mess at Eskom that continues to bring misery to many entrepreneurs who are faced with prolonged power cuts and financial losses. There has been no justifiable explanation given to the business owners and the community in Soweto by Eskom on why it has taken this long to fix a transformer.
If the government is serious about economic recovery and the role of small business it has to show its hand when the livelihoods of entrepreneurs like Vilakazi are threatened by power cuts.
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