Johannesburg- “Being female and black in a male-dominated brewery industry is not all that I bring to the table, I have earned my place at the table,” says Apiwe Nxusani- Mawela, the owner and founder of Tolokazi beer.
The 37-year-old brewer from Butterworth in the Eastern Cape doesn’t like being labelled black and female in the industry but prefers to be judged on the quality of her work.
“Yes, the industry is male-dominated, but what people do not know is that beer has always been made by women in the ancient days,” says Nxusani-Mawela, saying that being black and female did not put her in anyone’s mercy because she knew what she was doing.”
Nxusani-Mawela launched her fledgling business in 2020, a year devastated by Covid-19. And the government’s numerous bans on liquor products, as part of efforts to fight the global pandemic, didn’t make it easier for her business to flourish.
“We were less than a year in production when the world went on a standstill because of the pandemic. We had to close down,” she says.
“We had eight full-time staff members whom we had to let go off because the business couldn’t afford them. I have never received any financial support from the government or the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, so it has not been easy for our industry.”
Despite the challenges, Tolokazi is growing in leaps and bounds. The beer has now found space on the shelves of 15 liquor outlets countrywide.
This week, she lent her support to calls by her former employer, the SAB, for the government not to increase sin taxes when the Budget is tabled in parliament later this month.
Nxusani-Mawela was reacting to calls by SAB vice-president for corporate affairs Zoleka Lisa that implores the government to give small businesses along its value chain a tax break. “The tax break will go a long way in trying to revive the industry.
It will also help many other people who want to enter this field,” she adds. One of the first women to obtain a diploma in clear fermented beverages and earn her brewmaster hat, Nxusani- Mawela says working for the SAB made room for her in the beverages industry, allowing her to dream big.
“My previous experience working for the SAB meant I had built my credibility, but there was no pressure that was not beneficial for the growth of the business,” explains Nxusani- Mawela.
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