Cape Town - Greenmarket Square traders have said they hope for a better year ahead after the instability of 2020.
Last year began with the refugee protest that was bad for businesses in and around the square and ended with Covid-19 restrictions that kept people away during the historically busy festive season.
Senegalese Mor Fall, the chairperson of the Greenmarket Square traders, said: “For us 2020 was as if we had died. We are now coming back to life after almost a year of little or no business here in the square.
“The restaurants and coffee shops around the square have been urging me to get the traders back as when there are many stalls open, customers from here also visit those businesses and in that way we support each other.
“I am spending every day urging the stall holders to return. Together we hope to get the square back to where it was before all the troubles of 2020. It was tough for many of us as we had no help from the authorities,” said Fall.
Another Senegalese trader, Nar Hiam, said: “The lockdown threatened our businesses, like it did with all businesses. People were scared to come to the market, both traders and customers.”
Hiam said: “During the worst of the lockdown, when we could not trade, people like me had to rely on handouts and the little money our families and friends back in Senegal could send us for survival.
“I sell things like shirts and necklaces and some of them I have to import from Senegal and other countries such as Mozambique. During the lockdown, even those countries were in lockdown and so imports could not happen. Much of my stock is things I would normally have sold off last year.”
Joseph Banda from Malawi said: “We can only hope that this year will be better than the last one, which was the worst year we have ever seen.
“One of the problems for traders was that they live far from the CBD and could not afford to come in every day if they were not sure of making sales, it was enough of a struggle just making ends meet,” said Banda.
Cape Argus