#MakingIt: Hawker still going strong after 20 years of selling

MBOMBELA – Lowvelder visited the site which is booming with business activities to understand how hawkers operate. There is a long row of organised women working side by side to make ends meet. Their will to provide for their families is motivation enough for them to wake up at 06:00 to prepare for an entire day at the stalls.

Monareng occupies one of the multiple stalls in the area but due to a lack of space, she trades for a week and the following week space is made for another person to sell items. “It’s such a small area and as a result we all need to share it with others. Although we spend the second week sitting at home doing nothing, on a good day I make R500.

The good thing is that most of the products are sold out before they become rotten,” said Monareng. Most of their customers are tourists either visiting Mozambique or Swaziland from other parts of the country. Monareng explains her day-to-day hustle of competing with the other hawkers, but before she could complete her sentence she was interrupted by a car approaching their area.

All the women quickly ran to the vehicle to court the customer. “Each of us needs to prove how much we want to get support. Walala, wasala (you snooze, you lose),” she said. Originally from Acornhoek, Monareng arrived to the city in 1997 in search of employment. “I worked for eight months on a farm, but after that I lost my job. It was a difficult time,” she said.

The 47-year-old mother of two was made aware of the stalls by a friend. “I used R800 as my capital. Ever since it has been 20 years of ups and downs.” With the money she makes from sales, she has managed to start a tuck shop for her 27-year-old daughter back home in Acornhoek. She can also pay her rent in Mataffin where she currently resides.

Although she could not fund her children’s post-matric studies, she said she worked hard to ensure that they acquired basic education.