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Buffalo City informal traders feeling the pinch of COVID-19 restrictions

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Informal traders in the Buffalo City Metro in the Eastern Cape are feeling the effects of stricter COVID-19 restrictions for the province.

The closure of the city’s beaches is expected to have a crippling effect on local businesses. Earlier this week, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced stricter measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

These measures include the closure of beaches on certain days:

The traders had high hopes of making large profits during the month of December, however with the measures in place, this is proving difficult.

“Our children will not have clothes for Christmas this year. We don’t even have food for Christmas,” says one of the hawkers, Mapolisa Gatyana.

Another trader Ntombizine Booi says: “We have been operating here since 2004 but no one has come to assist us. The municipality should help us.”

Buffalo Municipality spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya says they are working to address the issues the traders are facing.

“There are a few challenges for both the formal and informal traders, we have noted that and as such we are trying, by all means, to get them to access all the funds that are available,” Ngwenya says.

He says they are working to get informal traders to register on the Department of Small Business portal.

Traders feeling the pinch:

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