High water levels mean low profit margins

RYDER GABATHUSE
Staff Writer | Friday July 30, 2010 00:00

Until recently, Mongana General Dealer And Bottle Store, which sells a variety of goods, including fresh food and alcoholic beverages, used to be a hive of activity.

Travellers used the Toteng-based shop as a hiking spot. Motorists travelling to Sehithwa and Shakawe stopped here for refreshments. The shop assistant, Gaboutwele Sanga says business was brisk until last month.

Today, the road passing in front of this business is closed because of the flooded Kunyere River. The red and white tape diverts the road to Sehithwa to pass through the village away from this shop, which was possibly located with the travellers in mind.

The people of Toteng predominantly speak Seherero or Mbanderu. Sanga is also of the Mbanderu.

'We have been badly affected by the diversion of the road because not so many motor vehicles now pass by our shop,' says the rather shy Sanga.

In particular, she says, 'on a good day, our restaurant was the centre of attraction as we also cook and sell fresh food'.

She adds that people travelling to both sides of the road-Maun to Sehithwa and vice versa now pass far away from the shop, taking business elsewhere.

She has no clue how long they will have to endure the low sales.

This is not the first time Mongana has experienced a drop in sales. As recently as the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), the situation was similarly bad.

'Besides travellers, our regular customers are the rural population whose economy depends on cattle,' Sanga says. 'With the outbreak of FMD, what it means is that they are down, and this affects our sales.'  The butchery is also affected. But the worst picture emerges from the bottle store where two big fridges contain only three pints of Bardo wine. Although Sanga says they have run out of stock, it is apparent that it is no longer their priority to restock.

Mongana General Dealer is apparently named after the mongana tree, a species of Acacia mellifera, a number of which stand at the main gate of the shop.

The trees form a good canopy, which provides shade for travellers. Mongana General Dealer is the only real shop in the village because the rest are merely tuckshops. For convenience, travellers now either get their supplies in Maun or Sehithwa, about 30 km west of Toteng.

Sanga has been watching the water level rise in the Kunyere River, which she calls Matsebe, since last June. 'I have never seen the river overflooded like this,' she says. 'The water has posed a threat to anything.'

But while we are here, a few motor vehicles stop outside for airtime and meals. 'We are only praying that the water level will subside soon to allow the situation to return to normal so that business may return to normal,' Sanga says in earnest.