With Umzinto being the business hub of the Umdoni district, it was imperative for its community to unite in order to restore what was lost during the looting in July.

Ahmed Kadwa, CEO of Bhai Plaza Shopping Centre, was devastated with the state of the centre and town after the looting, but through perseverance and the support from the community, the shopping centre is being rebuilt and in the process of being restored to its original state.

“It was something very upsetting and difficult to come to terms with,” he said.
“Even though we have done a lot to become operational again, it is still a very long process to get back to what we once were, but we will get there.”

Bhai Plaza was also home to online radio station Mid South Coast (MSC) Radio which was established last year, and unfortunately became a victim of the looting as well.

Founder of MSC Radio and Umzinto local, Nitha Harripersadh mentioned that even though she and the team went through this, the radio station was back online a week later and operating from home.

“Nothing stopped us from doing what we do best online,” she said.

Many other business owners in Umzinto shared similar sentiments and although their business premises were robbed of almost everything, they remained strong-willed and overcame this dark turn of events through unity.

In order to assist business owners re-open and get the Umzinto economy booming again, the Umzinto Business Chamber and other stakeholders collaborated and decided to form the Umzinto Business Sector Committee (UBSC) in August to uplift the town.

Chairman Roy Singh stated that the business sector committee welcomes all organisations to unite and work together towards a better Umzinto. The UBSC is still busy working with the community to restore the economic state of the town which will slowly but surely be achieved.

The community of Umzinto also showed unity and the spirit of ubuntu when members of the public, business owners and Umdoni Municipality officials and workers stood together to clean the town and attempt to restore what it lost.

Thanks to these positive actions and a community working as one, Umzinto has risen from the ashes and is flourishing slowly but surely.

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