Viviate Chari, a street vendor said it’s only her customers who affectionately call her magogo. She’s far from being a granny.

When the company that the 33-year-old used to work for was liquidated in 2019, she had no choice as she needed to make a living.

Viviate said being a street vendor can be a challenging yet fulfilling adventure, knowing that there will be food on the table for your loved ones. She said most of her customers are truck drivers, but when it’s too cold, they tend to sleep in their trucks to keep warm, making things difficult for her business.

Generally business is bad in winter, because truckers never come outside, but sometimes those driving past support us,” Viviate said.

Her expenses include paying her employee, regardless of whether she makes a profit. She takes this duty as an employer seriously.

She sells cooked meals, but her profit margin is quite low.

“The profit is about 30 per cent per meal, because you have expenses such as meat, and vegetables for salads and relishes.

“A 120,5kg bag of mealie meal lasts only three to four days,” she explained.

However, she said, there are good days – especially from the 25th towards the end of each month. She said some of the biggest threats to a small business is Covid-19 and lockdown restrictions, because if she is at home, she cannot make a living.

We need to keep working to bring in money. It is like living from hand to mouth, because the minute you stop there’s nothing to eat. At the end of the day, that small change makes a huge difference.”