LOCAL Spar owners, Nhlanhla Makhanya and Sfiso Ngwenya, held a glittery black tie event on Friday to officially thank the community for having helped them salvage their store from a fire in January.
“Despite struggling through the water situation the town has been facing, members of the Vryheid community worked tirelessly to help us put out the blaze, and as a sign of our gratitude, we have done this event to thank the community for having assisted us during this troubled time,” said Nhlanhla.
These two, who have been friends for well over 30 years, say that they initially wanted to head into the agricultural sector when they were made aware of the fact that the local Spar was looking for a buyer.
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“We saw this as a great business opportunity and despite having not had enough money to buy the business, we were able to raise R3.5 million between us, funny enough, this is the exact same amount worth of goods that we lost on the day of the fire,” recalled Sfiso.
Still with not enough money to buy into the franchise, the pair then started seeking assistance from funders and this is how they came across Old Mutual’s Masisizane Fund which they say was their greatest help.
“Although we took a great knock with the fire, we did our best to refrain from retrenching some of our staff members, despite how this would have been the easiest way to cut on costs. We understood the difficulty our people would have faced had they lost their jobs,” Sfiso explained.
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The two said that they were highly grateful to their suppliers for having been very patient with them until they found their feet following the fire.
Locals from the Neighbourhood Watch, local businesses, community members as well as members of council attended the event dressed up in their best outfits.
They were all treated to a great live performance by local band, Black Whiskey, and were spoiled with food and drink throughout the night.
Speaking during the event, AbaQulusi Municipality’s Cllr Martin Mtshali said that it was important for all members of the public to note that everyone has a role to play in building and improving the town.
Cllr Mtshali encouraged local business people to work with them as a municipality in order to help aid the town’s suffering infrastructure.
“May I invoke your love for Vryheid, let us all work together to make it great again,” he said in conclusion.
