Chronicle Editor
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
AFTER her grocery shop in New Lobengula was razed to ashes by a fire that was a result of violent protests and massive looting in 2019, Mrs Sally Maplanka (76) — a widowed business woman in Bulawayo lost all hope of getting her livelihood back as the shop — her only reliable source of income had stopped operating.
However, following Government intervention through the assistance of local political leadership, she has regained her footing and is getting ready to reopen her business that serves the community around it.
Mrs Maplanka and her late husband Zebulon, who was also a bus operator, were among the pioneer black businesspeople in Bulawayo.
The couple established a lucrative shop business that the now widowed Mrs Maplanka was living on, but the premises were burnt down during the 2019 January protests backed by opposition activists and political parties, leaving her with nothing as she could not afford the cost of reconstruction.
However, she has the Second Republic to thank for giving her back her livelihood after it availed funds to assist affected businesses.
“Government gave us bricks, cement, floor tiles, roofing and other materials for reconstruction. There are few things that are missing but basically, we have finished rebuilding the damaged buildings. The biggest challenge is that we do not have any money to stock up the shop and start operations once more. It costs a lot of money to stock up a shop. We were leasing the shop to Choppies when the premises were burnt down and we were only benefiting from rentals.
“The fridges, shelves and other equipment belonged to them. We therefore, need shelves and fridges for our products and other shop equipment. We have sourced some shelves from Botswana but the challenge is that there is import duty to be paid and we do not have that kind of money. We were hoping to get some assistance to bring in some of the materials without paying duty looking at the misfortune that we suffered as shop owners,” she hinted.
She said it was sad that a number of people lost their jobs after the riots, but paid tribute to the Government for changing their fortunes.
“I am happy with the aid from the Government. It really moved us from the stare of poverty by having our shops reconstructed. It was impossible to start from nowhere after the protests. We are hoping that a fund may be available to also assist us in restocking our shops, many others in the city were assisted and we are hopeful that it will be available to us so that we start operations as we have been closed for three years now,” she said.
Mrs Maplanka said she owes it to the New Dispensation and sang praise to President Mnangagwa through the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Cde Judith Ncube who she said was very instrumental in ensuring they get the requisite assistance.
“If it was not for the Government I do not know where we would be. I want to thank particularly Cde Judith Ncube for her assistance in our case. She was very influential, she was there all the way to ensure that we get all the assistance we needed from the Government. We are seeing the fruits of the New Dispensation, they tried their level best especially for us the elderly in the community. The tragedy had left us poor and we really needed the assistance,” she said.
Mrs Maplanka said communities around the shopping centre were greatly affected by the burning of shops and were forced to go as far as the city centre to buy basic goods that they could have accessed locally.
“Imagine having to carry loads of groceries from town yet they previously accessed them right at their doorsteps. So, it is essential that this shop reopens and we start serving the community. We are glad that the government set the ball rolling when they assisted with rebuilding the shop. So now we need to reopen,” said Mrs Maplanka.
The shop was built in 1992 by her late husband. She said they were renting a shop in Tshabalala before they bought and built the Lobengula shop.
“We used to work hard, so we managed to build the shop. I was interested in a grocery shop and my husband was a bus operator. That is how it started and we had been serving the people. In 2013, we leased out the shop, we couldn’t manage to run it and Choppies took over. But now we want to run the shop once more as a family,” she said.
In addition, Mrs Maplanka encouraged young people to be persistent in pursuing their dreams and to work hard in order to achieve their goals as there was a Government that was willing to work with them. She said young people should take advantage of the open window for development. @NyembeziMu
Bongani Ndlovu