Beach vendors struggle for sales

Forming a colourful part of the Dolphin Coast landscape, groups of vendors and their assortment of goods can be seen camped in the blazing sun every day from dawn until dusk , but “life is hard”, they say.

Thousands of holidaymakers decend over the festive season, which vendors in Ballito said offered them a seasonal lifeline.

Simba Mazhembe (25), who has been making ornaments and wall hangings out of beads and steel wire near La Montagne for the past seven years, said December is a very important month for his business.

“December is our best month as there are many more people here than usual, but the Ballito Pro and all the school holidays over the year help to keep my business running,” said Mazhembe, who was taught his trade by his uncle when he was a child.

Other vendors told a different story, however, with one woman who sells on the corner of La Montagne and Willard Beach expressing how tough it is to make ends meet every day.

Phakamile Ngcobo, a 44-year-old mother from Shayamoya, who has been selling her goods at the same spot for the past 20 years said life is difficult for her and her young child.

“Even though December is busy, we are struggling and business is not good because not enough people want to buy what I have,” said Ngcobo, who said she is heavily reliant on holidaymakers for her survival.

“On a good day, I might go home with R150 to R200 at the most, but now that the tourists are gone, I’ll be lucky to get one cent for a full day’s work. With my young son to feed, I am always looking for bread, but it is hard.”

Ngcobo sells a range of items from towels and sarongs to straw hats, sunglasses and handmade bracelets, which she said only those on holiday seem to buy.

The seasonal nature of the Dolphin Coast as a holiday destination means that for most of the year, beach vendors fight to make a sale, and yet they stay the entire year to set up their makeshift stalls on beach fronts and parking lots.

Mazhembe, Ngcobo and vendors on beaches between Ballito and Salt Rock said that their working days are long, arriving to set up no later than 8am and staying until last light at about 5pm from Monday through to Sunday, 365 days a year.

Only rain stops these vendors from working as the cost of travel from their homes to the beach outweighs their potential earnings for the day.

Ngcobo said although she works long hours for little money, she is forced to continue out of sheer necessity.

“Every day I am struggling, but every day I am here – what else am I going to do? This is all I have,” she said.

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