Africa-Press – Lesotho. After surviving Covid-19, now small businesses are faced with the surging inflation that has forced them to also raise prices while some businesses are shutting
down. Butha-Buthe resident Thapelo Koaesa who survives by selling fat cakes, russian and polony in the streets of his home town, indicated that having been doing this business
for the past three years, this has been the most challenging time for him. He added that the increase of prices of food groceries from cooking oil, gas/paraffin to flour that happens to be the backbone of his business has done
him no good as no profits are gained. “It is so unfortunate that some of us, at this young age, we are already bread winners in our families and we came to the streets to hustle rather than be
involved in crimes for survival,” he said. Koaesa further said before this rise in prices, his business was doing well but now he spends more money on buying
necessities only to receive nothing in return and it is even worse because he is not able to increase prices as he fears he will lose customers. A single mother of three children ‘Matseko Sekhonyana who runs her business of
selling sweets, snacks and fruits in a shack in Butha-Buthe town says with petrol prices increasing rapidly, this has also affected them as street vendors
who use public transport from and to work, even when they have to procure stock for their businesses. “Business is very poor here in our district, so much that
I am even thinking of leaving it and cross the border over to South Africa to work as a domestic worker because now I am struggling to pay for my kids’
school fees and put bread on the table,” she said. She added that even the stockvel she joined has collapsed whereby they used to contribute certain amount of money to buy stock for one another.
‘Manteboheng Khoaelane who sells food in Butha-Buthe taxi rank says with their businesses
still recovering from Covid-19, now they feel like they are faced with another pandemic of inflation which ought to fatally complete what Covid-19 had already
started. She said she sells food to taxi drivers and passengers and her cheapest plate used to be M15.00 but ever since she increased the price to M20,
she started losing customers. “I am even contemplating to sell only breakfast meals because they sell fast and most of my customers are taxi drivers who come to work very early in the morning,” she said.
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