March marks one year since the first case of Covid-19 was reported in our country, which left an indelible imprint in the lives of thousands.
One year later, while most people are still trying to put the pieces together to survive after their livelihoods were severely affected, others have reached a dead end. Many local businesses could not weather the storm.
A Windmill Park businessman is on the verge of shutting down his business after he was hit hard by the lockdown.
Thami Mkhwanazi and his business partner, Bobby Meniers, said they have had a very bad year.
They run a business called Bobs and Thams Telecoms and Construction Services, which has been operating since 2018.
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The business deals with installing and repairing telephones, installing windows and fibre as well as building houses for military veterans.
Mkhwanazi, who worked for Telkom for 14 years, said after he and his business partner were retrenched they decided to take a leap of faith and open their own business.
“We registered the company as a small business,” he explained. “Finally, we were our own boss and were happy about this, while making sure we work hard to grow the business. We worked as subcontractors for Telkom to instal and repair telephones. Our business expanded to construction.”
The 56-year-old businessman said they employed four people, bought four company vehicles and were making between R10 000 and R15 000 a month.
Furthering his studies and equipping himself with business knowledge, Mkhwanazi studied entrepreneurship development at the University of Johannesburg in 2019.
He said his studies helped him make informed decisions about the business, while enlightening him about labour law and so much more.
Things took a turn when the pandemic affected their business.
“The unexpected pandemic brought misery to our lives and it resulted in two of our company vehicles being repossessed. We also had to let three of our workers go due to the company’s financial constraints. We are now left with one staff member and two vehicles, so we cannot be as productive as before. With the implementation of lockdown restrictions, we couldn’t go to customers’ homes to instal or repair anything and started losing the income we were making every month. We went from having three jobs per day to having none for a week. The loss of income didn’t only affect the business but it hit hard at home as well. I couldn’t afford to pay for my 21-year-old son’s tertiary education,” Mkhwanazi said.
He added things started to pick up when the country was moved to level three at the beginning of February.
“Even though we are on level one now, business remains slow. We hope it will improve over the next few months or we may be forced to shut our doors,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Boksburg-based Tilt Resto-Bar, which has been in existence for seven years, closed its doors in January due to the severe impact of lockdown on the business.
Before its closure, owner Dave Paulsen took to Facebook to vent his frustrations about the ban on alcohol sales.
In his video, which went viral and received 400 000 views in 24 hours, Paulsen said his business went from being packed with customers to almost none at all. He also had to retrench some of his staff.
After efforts to save the business, the business was eventually closed.
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