MASERU – It is lunchtime and vendors with bucketfuls of fat cakes, Russian sausages, fruits and drinks line food stalls in Maseru waiting for buyers.
But very few are coming.
Many of the city workers who used to provide the bulk of business to food vendors have little choice but to go hungry. Others have since been retrenched and have joined the ranks of the unemployed or have also turned to street vending.
“Times are tough,” says ’Maliketso Sebopi, sitting next to a 20 litre bucket full of fat cakes and a lunchbox packed with Russian sausages.
She is among dozens of food vendors sitting under their umbrellas or under tree shades to hide from the scorching heat.
But they cannot escape the economic heat affecting their businesses. After years of recording brisk business, vendors are feeling the pinch of the country’s economic slowdown.
Customers are not trooping in as before. Faced with a myriad of competing needs amid mounting economic challenges, many workers have stopped buying food from vendors to prioritise on other more pressing needs.
Food vendors have been hit hard and some are remaining in the business only because they have no other skills to survive on.
“This is no longer profitable…but I have not quit because I do not know how else to provide for my family,” says Sebopi.
Food vending is a taxing business with little rewards these days, she says.
Daily, Sebopi wakes up at dawn to prepare the food items so that she is ready for the market by sunrise.
“I have been in town since morning but I haven’t really sold many goods to show for it,” she says.
She tells thepost that it is now routine to carry back home some of her stock at the end of the day. Some of it comes back to the market the following day but other items are eaten by family members.
Lesotho’s economy is in a fix. According to the World Bank’s 2019 economic overview of the country, the economy has been negatively affected by political instability and a prolonged period of slow growth in South Africa, which has led to falling Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) revenue as well as liquidity challenges.
Economic growth averaged just 1.4 percent between 2015 and 2018 while the real gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to grow by 2.6 percent in 2019 and is projected to average 1.5 percent in the next two years, according to the World Bank.
Lesotho needs to do more to boost these numbers, the bank says.
“The country finds itself at a crossroads needing new engines for growth, a more streamlined role for the state, and a dynamic private sector to help it seize opportunities in regional and global markets,” it reads.
Further, while a section of the population could be doing well, the majority is wallowing in poverty and Lesotho remains one of the most unequal countries in the world, according to the World Bank.
The latest Central Bank of Lesotho’s Monthly Economy Review issued in June highlights that the country is facing serious unemployment challenges.
The review noted that revenue from Pay As You Earn taxes has been in decline, pointing to lower levels of employment.
Many who lose their formal jobs turn to street vending but even there, the prospects of eking out a decent living are getting slimmer, including for those who are veterans in the business.
Mokhopi Mokhopi has been selling breakfast by the Tower Branch since 2012 but says business has been at its worst this year.
“Things are bad,” he says.
“I try to scale down the quantities but still I still have to carry food home on some days. We are just glad to be doing something, we can’t even seek employment anywhere not with so many unemployed graduates. Uneducated folks like us do not stand a chance,” he says. “We have run out of ideas.”
Next to him is Thabo Pitso, who is selling a range of fruits from a wheelbarrow. A plastic bag filled with rotting fruits nearby tells his misery.
“They are spoiled,” Pitso says.
A potential customer arrives, picks a packet of peanuts but drops it and walks away shaking his head when told it will cost him M7.
“See. This is the problem we are facing daily. People do not have money and things are just so expensive,” says Pitso.
“A box of apples used to take a day or two at maximum and I would be able to make a bit of profit but lately even a week goes by without selling everything off,” he says.
Food vendors such as Sebopi are not alone in the struggle. Reduced spending by Basotho is affecting vendors on a broader scale.
Metres from the food stalls, shoes, sunglasses, combs and other items are on display but no customers are inquiring.
“There are too many people selling the same thing and not enough buyers,” says Teboho Luka, a street vendor selling second hand shoes.
He says he has also seen better days, describing the current situation as one that “keeps going downhill.”
“A bale used to sell out quickly. At least by this time I would be selling a few remaining shoes and preparing to open a second bale,” Luka says.
“That is no longer the case, sometimes a bale takes longer than a month to sell.”
He returns home without selling a single pair of shoes on some days, he says, adding that due to lack of opportunities he is forced to continue selling shoes despite the lean times.
“Poverty is real out there,” he says.
“We are just grateful to be going to bed with a full stomach while some go to bed hungry,” he says.
Lemohang Rakotsoane
