11 Apr 2021

 The informal sector has been hard hit  and left in despair by COVID-19. 

Cosmetic and jewellery sellers in Serowe have also not escaped the stinging effects of COVID-19. 

In an interview, Mr Oagile Seabueng, one of the business owners said since Corona started, there were no customers. 

He said the ongoing curfew made things worse because most of their customers came from surrounding villages of Serowe, so they were always in a hurry to beat the curfew time and in the end had no time to pass by their stalls. 

Mr Seabueng said he used the money he got from LEA Informal Sector Grant to pay debts he accumulated during the past lockdowns. 

“This is my only source of income which helps me to take care of my family and it is also my passion, he said. 

He said he had done other jobs before on the side, but, had always came back to selling cosmetics and jewellery.

Despite the calamity brought about by COVID-19, Mr Seabueng said he would not back down  on his business. 

He said he had accepted the new normal and the negatives that came with coronavirus, but wished that curfew times could be changed so that they too could get customers.

Another businessman, Mr Kelapile Phuthego, who has been in this business since 1998, shared the sentiments as his colleague, adding that the economic disruption of COVID-19 was devastating and had brought loss to his business. 

He said he was grateful for the money he got from LEA Informal Sector Grant though not enough to buy stock. 

He said things would be better if there was no curfew or movement restrictions because customers no longer frequented his stall. 

“I no longer get customers like I used to”, he said. 

Mr Phuthego was nonetheless unhappy that his regular customers did not buy from him. 

He said he believed that it was because they too had been affected by COVID-19 and did not have money.

He said to fight against the virus, he observes COVID-19 health measures of sanitizing and keeping a register of his customers. 

“It seems coronavirus is here to stay, there is nothing we can do, but to learn to live with it’, he said. 

He said the disease had caused a lot of damage in the informal sector and wished government could do more to help by adjusting the curfew times. Ends