AS the country comes to terms with the massive losses
arising from the violent protests in January, the livelihoods of two elderly
widows, Mrs Molly Malunga (67) and Mrs Sally Maplanka (73), have been shattered
as the two shops that were their source of income were burnt down.
Both Mrs Malunga and Mrs Maplanka were renting out their
shops in Pumula East and New Lobengula respectively to retail giant Choppies
Enterprises which was one of the companies worst hit by the violent riots.
Mrs Malunga is the widow of Joseph Malunga who was the
brother to national hero and veteran nationalist, Sydney Malunga while Mrs
Maplanka is the widow of one of the pioneers of the black business community,
Zeblon Maplanka.
While the situation in the country has returned to normal,
the future looks bleak for the shop owners who now face the daunting task of
picking up the pieces of their disrupted lives without their main sources of
income.
Mrs Malunga told Sunday News that life had taken a turn for
the worst for her family, as they were now unable to get any returns from a
shop that was built by her husband 40 years ago.
“What happened is very painful. It doesn’t sit well with
us. It’s a huge loss for us because this was our livelihood. We were working
well with Choppies and even now we have good frank discussions with them on
where to go from here and whether we’ll be able to get some assistance even
from Government. For now it’s promising,” she said.
According to Mrs Malunga, they are now stranded as they can
not turn to Choppies as the company is also licking its wounds after the massive
losses they suffered during the protests. Choppies Enterprises has said it lost
stock valued at $2,5 million while equipment and assets worth $6,5 million were
destroyed after nine of its branches were attacked by violent demonstrators and
looters.
“We haven’t been paid because it would be unfair for us to
go and demand money from them when they’re also crying about this whole
situation. We’re waiting for them to first get their house in order and
determine how they’re going to be able to move forward. Only then could they be
able to call us and tell us the way forward. If they restock then we can map a
way forward,” she said.
With their source of income reduced to ashes, Mrs Malunga
said they did not yet know the full extent of the damage. Built by Mrs
Malunga’s late husband in 1979, she said that the shop had sustained her family
even when her late husband, the family’s breadwinner, fell ill. The family
started renting the shop to Choppies in 2012.
Four decades after they opened their doors to the public,
Mrs Malunga said they would be out of business for the first time as they had
never seen such wanton violence in the shop’s existence. She said she was
unsure when the shop would be operational again.
Fellow shop owner Mrs Maplanka said her burnt down shop had
also been her main source of income, keeping her on her feet after the passing
away of her husband.
“We were working well with Choppies before all this
happened. This money was taking care of me and four of my grandchildren. This
is where we got the money for school fees and even rentals. We built this place
when my husband was alive in 1992. We had the shop and I was working there
until we started renting it to Choppies in 2013,” she said.
Mrs Maplanka said she was in the dark about how much was
required to get the shop operational again.
“Right now we have nothing and we don’t know how we’re
going to live going forward. We have nothing and we don’t know how long it will
take for the place to get fixed,” she said. Sunday News
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