The cries of the traditional food seller

Ike Vavi
Correspondent | Friday August 20, 2010 00:00

She specialises mostly in traditional foods that include mororogo wa dinawa, peanuts, various types of beans and many others.  She is however a worried person.  The cause of her worries has mainly to do with the competition for customers that has recently characterised her business.

Tsitsi Mbakile, of Makaleng, is concerned about the apparent invasion of the local market by Zambian traders who are selling the same traditional foods. 

'These people have reduced my profit margin as they have cut my customer base,' she complains. Mbakile maintains this situation has unfavourably affected her economic situation, as this is the only business that sustains her.

'Ever since these people appeared in the market, my life has changed for the worse. For the past two years I have not been making much money. This is very frustrating because it has made my life very difficult.  This business is my only source of income,' she laments.

She is also worried that though these people do not have licences to sell, they are always successful in their endeavours because some Batswana with licences 'front' for them. 'Some locals allow the Zambians to operate behind them as a way of making money.  They then charge the Zambians some fees. When you visit such stalls you might get the impression that the business belongs to a local while in actual fact it is for the Zambians.  These are some of the tricks that are being employed which completely kill our businesses,' she reveals with a heavy heart. Mbakile maintains that the Zambians have an unfair competitive edge over them as they sell the products at cheaper prices. 'The Zambians are selling at very low prices. For example they offer a container that I would normally sell for P30 at half the price and in some instances far less than that.' Mmaagwe Neo (as she prefers to be called) is another vendor who also specialises in traditional food. She states that they are really struggling to match their Zambian competitors who are also the suppliers of some of the products. 'It is difficult to outclass them.

Remember we buy some of the stuff from them in bulk and start selling them in smaller containers.  Unfortunately after supplying us with the products they also sell in smaller containers at cheaper prices.  This has completely taken the steam out of our business.' She is also worried that they have lost many of their customers to the Zambian traders.

'Customers always come to enquire about the prices and when you tell them they simply say that they have seen cheaper items somewhere and off they go,' she complains. Neo reminisces about the past experiences.  'We used to make a lot of money. Our strategic location used to serve us well because we are in the middle of the town.  People used to know that if you wanted traditional food you simply had to go to the market.

But sadly all that has changed. Our stock can now stay unsold for months.' She says that they are now contemplating a drastic reduction of their prices in a bid to beat their competitors and/or suppliers. 'We are even thinking of cutting our prices to retain the few customers we are left with and to attract new ones although that will be suicidal.

Remember we are also buying these products and any reduction in the current prices will be self-strangulation,' she explains. Neo is of the view that the construction of a big open market place is the only solution to their problems. 'This will enable the city authorities and the law enforcement agencies to monitor our dealings and take appropriate action whenever things are not done legally.

For now such an endeavour will remain a challenge because we are scattered all over the city,' she says.