Despair as the alcohol levy hits unintended victims
Thalefang Charles | Friday October 2, 2015 12:48
Mmashadi Mogalakwe, 43, sits quietly under the shadow of the security gatehouse at the Kgalagadi Breweries Limited (KBL) Lobatse Brewery premises. It is a week before Independence Day - the day her services will be terminated at the now closed brewery.
She uncomfortably fields Mmegi questions on her future after Independence Day.
Mogalakwe, originally from Mabutsane, is the breadwinner of her family. Since 2013 she has been working at Clean Time - a company that was contracted for cleaning services at the KBL Lobatse Brewery. She was supervisor of her team and earning a ‘good salary’. But in July, she and eight of her colleagues received the bad news after KBL made the announcement.
KBL announced that they are closing their Lobatse production citing a harsh trading environment. This coupled with the ever-increasing alcohol levy, the reduction of alcohol trading hours, the Traditional Beer Regulations and increased licensing restrictions.
Although KBL made measures to absorb its employees from the Lobatse plant, the workers from the contracted companies like Clean Time were left in the cold.
Mogalakwe is among those. She is still in despair and doed not know where she will be after the independence chop.
“My head is spinning. I don’t know what I am going to do. My life has been shattered because there is no one to help me. I do not have a husband or any supporting children to assist me,” she says.
Mogalakwe lives with her two unemployed boys in Lobatse. One is epileptic and needs special care. Her mother, grandmother and nieces at Mabutsane also rely on her salary.
“The worst thing is that, I have taken loans and I do not know how I am going to repay them. I thought of enrolling with Ipelegeng, but even its wages would not be enough,” she weighs up her options.
She was not looking forward to Independence Day because she does not have anything to celebrate.
A colleague of hers is sitting nearby with the Independence Day termination letter in hand. Thirty-eight-year-old Itumeleng Mathokgwane from Dinatshana near Goodhope stays in a small rented house at Peleng with his wife and small child. His wife does not work and as the head of the family the end of employment would be hard on them all.
He said he was doing well and now he has no idea where he will get money to feed and take care of his small family.
“We were just told that there is no more work and given letters notifying us that our job will end on September 30 because the brewery is closing. They did not tell us why they were closing,” says Mathokgwane.
Mathokgwane says his future is gloomy and prays that he will find employment soon.
Kereng Makgorotlhe, 37, from Digawana makes a living by selling sweets, drinks, biscuits and chips outside the Lobatse plant. She has been trading there since 2008 and she too is affected by the plant closure.
“I lost good customers. I used to sell lots of drinks to the KBL people, but these days no one is buying,” she says.
She adds that her small business is on its record low and she is still observing the situation. She is thinking about relocating and finding another trading spot elsewhere.
The KBL Lobatse plant also adversely affected the distributors in the area. One of them is Molaodi Mantle of Nates Enterprises at Moselawapula Mall. Mantle who is the ruling Botswana Democratic Party councillor at Woodhall is also crying.
“The closure has affected the economy of Lobatse. Those people that KBL relocated elsewhere means that there is less buying power left in Lobatse. It is not good,” says Mantle.
His Chibuku distribution business has also been badly affected as distributors are failing to meet the customers’ growing demand.
“There is serious lack of the product (Chibuku). We cannot meet our customers’ demand. I used to sell about 1,500 to 2,400 crates per week, but these days we receive about 500 or 700 per week,” explains Mantle.
He shows Mmegi his empty distribution centre. Mantle says the situation is much worse in the rural areas. The Chibuku distribution network that is regarded by many as the best in the country is facing the challenge of having no product to distribute.
Mantle believes the situation could get worse if the regulations are not relaxed. He is adamant that the alcohol levy is not the right tool to curb its abuse.
“People are losing employment and companies are going under due to the stringent regulations,” adds Mantle.
For his part corporate communication manager at KBL Mokoro Ketsitlile, says they are facing the same challenges that every business in Botswana is facing.
He says the short supply of Chibuku is caused mostly by the lack of water and constant power cuts.
“We do not want to sound like cry babies, but we are facing a number of problems that make our production suffer. The current situation of water shortages and power cuts causes serious disruptions on our productions.
“And on top of that there is the alcohol levy that has been the biggest challenge to KBL leading to the closure of two breweries in Botswana,” says Mokoro.
Meanwhile at LM Depot in Peleng, a group of Chibuku guzzlers are seated outside sharing their favourite drink oblivious of the challenging situations that the producer, the distributor and reseller are facing.
To them their only worry, as it has always been, is the money for their next carton. These social bunches who keep making catcalls to the women passers-by are the people that kept Mogalakwe, Mathokgwane, Mantle and even Mokoro in their jobs for many years. The levy was made for them but they are still enjoying their traditional beverage without restraint.