KwaZulu-Natal businesswoman Busisiwe Nodada reckons she will never recover from the damage caused to her business during the July 2021 unrest.
Her store was a complete disaster when she arrived at the Edendale Mall in Pietermaritzburg one morning during the upheavals.
Nodada told Sunday World that she still remembers that day as if it were yesterday.
“I had both a school of fashion and a boutique open at the mall. Nothing inside the store could be saved, including the mannequins, equipment, clothes, and electronics. That meant I had no job and the people who worked under me had to go back home,” said Nodada.
Having worked in the fashion sector for over a decade, the 42-year-old stated that her loss exceeded half a million rands.
“Inside the shop, there were clothes, accessories, machines, purses, textiles, and beads; the total cost of everything was about R600,000. I can’t compare the state of my business in 2021 to the Covid-19 period, because even though we were closed during the epidemic, I still had resources available to me should the country open,” she added.
She went on to say that the rioting had not only cost her business but also written off her vehicle.
“The violent attackers of the mall came after everything that was inside. They got to my car, which was parked in the back, and left it in the worst possible condition. It was immediately written off,” Nodada said.
She said that even though her business insurance paid out, she still required additional funding to breathe new life into her passion project.
“The insurance gave me R60 000 because I was not insured for something of that nature. The payout could not help either. I had been dressing people like South African music genius Zwai Bala and most of the KwaZulu-Natal legislators. Recently I was thinking about how far I come with my business, and I remembered that all that hard work of years went down the drain.”
She revealed that she is deeply in debt and is working to rehabilitate her business; however, getting funding for her to continue is her toughest obstacle.
“I am drowning in debt. I do not have a space of my own, so I still pay rent, excluding electricity and other business necessities. Most of my accounts are in arrears because even when I try to pay others, others are accumulating.
According to Nodada, black business owners still need to be taught about managing businesses.
“Our industry is highly competitive because there are people who are willing to do what we do at a cheaper price and less quality. That makes us less appealing to the customers.”
