Joburg - Entrepreneurs are finding it increasingly difficult to stay afloat in the current economic climate in South Africa. High inflation, rising fuel, electricity tariffs and load shedding are slowly killing off small businesses.
“Today I bid farewell to Humble Cafe. Inflation has proven to be the most crippling thing for us small business owners and I’m sick to my stomach to have to close my doors. This is all I’ve ever had, my heart is aching,“ tweeted actor and entrepreneur, Linda Majola, announcing the closure of his food trailer business.
Majola had been operating his food trailer since 2020 to sustain himself while trying to break into the mainstream television industry. While he was busy making chips in his food trailer, he received the call notifying him that he had secured a role in one of Showmax’s top telenovelas, The Wife.
Today I bid farewell to Humble Cafe. Inflation has proven to be the most cripling thing for us small business owners and I’m sick to my stomach to have to close my doors. This is all I’ve ever had, my heart is aching, 💔 https://t.co/mwkqtCs5GD
— Linda Majola (@majola_lindah) February 2, 2023
“It was my bread and butter, it was how I made my living. We were struck by Covid, so we had that challenge to contend with but we prevailed.
“We reopened and started using Humble for the content I was shooting inside of it and started posting on socials and it materialised into what is now known as my acting career,” said Majola.
Now just over a year later, his business has had to close down, taking the jobs of two staff members. It was a decision that did not come easily for Majola.
“My heart aches at having to take this decision. It took me months before I reached the conclusion. I tried to use my own money from my MC gigs, my acting money, brand collaboration money to feed into the business, but it was inevitable,” he said.
The closure of Majola’s business is a direct manifestation of the recently released inflation figures released by Stats SA. The consumer price inflation fell to 7.2% year-on-year in December, down from 7.4% the previous month.
Worryingly though, food prices rose significantly in December 2022, where a basket of goods cost 13.5% more than the previous year.
“The biggest problem for me was inflation. I would go one week and buy some stock and then go back the following week and it would cost me twice the amount I paid the week before.”
”Things like load shedding prevent us from buying in large quantities because we don’t want to see the food spoil. Fuel prices mean transport becomes costly. Electricity prices are rising and people’s buying power has also decreased. Instead of buying from the trailer they would rather make a sandwich and eat at home. So inflation has had a domino effect,” said Majola.
The Household Affordability Index by the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity group (PMBEJD), shows food prices in South Africa continued to increase in December, resulting in a tough start to the year for many South Africans.
In December 2022, the group’s basket of nutritional foods came to R4 853.18, an increase of R17.21 (0.4%) from R4 835.96 in November 2022. In comparison to December 2021, it had risen by R577.24 (13.5%) from R4 275.94.
“I’m distraught, but it took a lot from me to make that decision. I’m hopeful that a solution will come, whereby we’ll be able to open up again. This is something I’ve worked on with my grandmother. It’s a project we’ve spent so much of our time, money and effort on. It was also the bread and butter for the people that were working there. It was also something that was helping a lot of people in our area.”
By his own admission, Majola does not have the answers to how to help entrepreneurs through these tough times, but he does have some suggestions he believes might help.
“Funding ideally would be the best thing to help small businesses. Training on how to find suppliers that are able to give us favourable prices. There is just so much. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion,” said Majola
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