A vendor reacts as she displays merchandise for sale during the second day of the 55th National Conference of the ANC at NASREC in Johannesburg on December 17, 2022. (Photo by Phill Magakoe / AFP)
More than 50 vendors lined up for about 2km along Nasrec Road on Saturday, the second day of the ANC national elective conference, looking to sell their wares to delegates.
“Ngize la ngizo chancer (I came here to try my luck),” said Emmanuel Zimu, a father of five whose stall sells grilled chicken, pap and wors as well as ANC regalia, jewellery and snacks. “All my children aren’t employed. I support nine people and I have not sold one plate [of food] today.”
Zimu lives in Soweto with his children, two grandchildren and his wife. His children are educated, he says, but have not found jobs.
He spoke to Mail & Guardian while turning a marinated quarter leg of chicken on his gas grill. Laid on a table were salads to accompany the grilled meat. Zimu was selling a plate of food for R75.
Zimu said many people were struggling to make ends meet and had come to the conference in the hope of making a few sales, adding: “They would not be here if they had an option.”
The latest data puts South Africa’s unemployment rate at 32.9% of the labour force. In the economic hub of Gauteng, four million people are without jobs.
Another vendor trying her luck on Saturday was Thobile Ntombela, a mother of two who said she had come all the way from Durban to sell her items at the conference.
“We travelled here and booked accommodation from Wednesday until Tuesday. I am with my mother, father and two sisters. We are a family of hustlers. They sell clothing and I sell food, although I am also a seamstress,” she said as she stirred a pot of pap to sell at lunchtime.
Ntombela said she had studied hospitality but never officially worked in the industry.
“I am a cook, I sell my food at conferences, [that way] you can get some money. This is not my first ANC conference. I go to the smaller ones, but I also had a stall at the big one in 2017.” She sells a plate of pap, steak and chakalaka for R80.
Not too far from Ntombela’s stall was an older couple selling ANC regalia. The husband, Monty Maphike, said he had always come to ANC conferences, but before as a delegate.
This was his first year helping his wife sell ANC merchandise including T-shirts in the party’s green, black and yellow colours. Some sported images of Nelson Mandela as well Chris Hani and Chief Albert Luthuli. Each shirt was selling for around R200.
“I am not a delegate anymore because I had to let the young ones take the lead,” Maphike said. “I thought this year I should help out [my wife] and make some money.”
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