Charlene Smith
Political change is destroying Soweto shebeens, says shebeen king Godfrey Moloi and most tavern owners agree.
When business was booming, from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, Moloi (63) was one of the wealthiest men in Soweto, with gold jewellery and big houses.
He would screen guests who came to his shebeens or Blue Fountain nightclub and turn away people who didn’t meet his standards. But times have changed: “Now I have the cheapest clientele.”
He says problems began with the scrapping of the Group Areas Act: “Black people would rather travel to spend time in town with the baas at his clubs.” The upside was that trendy whites flocked to shebeens at weekends.
The real drop in clientele, however, became apparent in 1992 and 1993 with an exodus of monied blacks from the townships.
Of 15 shebeen owners contacted, only one reported business was booming – Wandile Ndala of Wandies in Dube, who has been in the business for 18 years. But, she admits, most of her clientele live outside Soweto.
During the week, 80% of her business is the tourist trade – and she’s conveniently situated on Soweto’s main tourism route.
“We also cater for the corporate client, businesspeople who come to Soweto to network and have corporate functions,” Ndala says. “Business was very bad at the time of the first [democratic] elections in this country because of political violence. But after the elections it improved. People have reconciled and changed, especially older people.”
The exodus to the suburbs was not a disaster. “Recently they are flocking back to Soweto for entertainment. Home is home,” says Ndala.
But Maureen Mhlongo of Shakara in Jabulani disagrees: “Three years ago I purchased stock worth R100 000. Now to reach R10 000 is a battle. Shebeen owners are cutting their mark-ups to as little as 3%. You can’t make money like that. I’ve heard of tourists coming to Soweto, but we don’t get business from them.”
At her shebeen a 750ml Castle costs R3,90 and a brandy and coke R11,20, about average for Soweto.
Shebeens were born because the apartheid government would not allow black people to consume liquor unless they could prove they had passed standard eight and applied for a permit which allowed them six bottles of beer and one bottle of spirits a month.
They could not consume “clear beer”, forcing black people to drink sorghum beer (brewed by the government) sold through township beerhalls to finance township administration. Shebeens became the single most important job creator in townships that were allowed no economic infrastructure.
But now democracy is killing shebeens. Kuki Seene’s establishment is a case in point. Seene runs Kuki’s Place, started by her husband Peggy in 1964 in Rockville. Before his death in 1994, he was president of the Taverners Association.
She sells 30 to 50 cases of beer per week, and says that as little as five years ago they sold perhaps 10 times that amount. “It has been much worse since December. A bottle store opened in the street behind mine and they are cheaper than me. I don’t sell enough any more to get stocks direct from the brewery or distiller, so I buy from other taverners, or even the new bottle store. I can’t keep my prices low enough.”
Today, a young man wanting to impress a girlfriend won’t take her to a shebeen or cinema. He’ll take her out to a central-city restaurant, club or cinema. If he is very keen on her, he will take her to a northern suburbs entertainment venue.
About 1 000 foreign tourists visit Soweto daily, but of the 5 600 shebeens South African Breweries estimates operate there, tour operators take them to only 15 approved by Tourism Johannesburg and Satour.
Moloi gestures around his nightclub with its large mirrored walls, and a stage with band instruments. “This place is only full on a Saturday night after people have been paid. And even then they don’t stay late because crime means people don’t want to be on the streets late at night.”