It's not business as usual in once busy border town

Despite the fact that borders are open again for travelling, businesses in Musina are struggling to pick up where they left off before the Covid-19 lockdown period started.

“It doesn't look as if the borders are opened for Zimbabweans to come into South Africa to do their shopping. December is not usually this quiet,” said Mohammed Sumon, who owns a grocery store.

Sumon is one of many shop owners in Musina who are worried about the lack of customers buying from their shops. Most of them say that they were hard hit by the lockdown and that business is still not picking up as it should, as most of their customers come from Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe’s borders were opened on 1 December this year, but as a measure to control the spread of the coronavirus, strict travelling requirements were imposed, and no-one can cross its borders without a negative Covid-19 certificate. This seems to be the heart of the problem for business owners.

“I think both governments (South African and Zimbabwean) should try to reduce the costs for Covid-19 testing. It seems that most of our Zimbabwean customers are struggling to raise the required amount,” said Sumon.

Another business owner, Shiplo Miah, told Limpopo Mirror/Zoutpansberger that if business here continued at the current low rate, he would be forced to relocate to Cape Town, or return to his home country in Bangladesh. “In all the years I have run a grocery shop, this is the worst year. Customers from Zimbabwe usually flock to Musina for shopping over December. Now look, there is no-one in the shop,” he said worriedly when Limpopo Mirror/Zoutpansberger visited his shop. A single customer was being served. Miah said they used to employ many people, now they had only two employees.

Limpopo Mirror/Zoutpansberger's reporter had visited Musina town before the country went into lockdown. Zimbabweans could then be seen everywhere on the streets. Even at one of Musina's busiest streets, only a few Zimbabweans can now be seen packing their groceries up and waiting for transportation to go back home.

Most of the Zimbabwean shoppers told us that they could not afford to make several trips back and forth in a month anymore. They said it cost them $60US (around R900) in Zimbabwe to test for Covid-19, and they did not have that kind of money.

“I run a small business in Masvingo,” an anonymous Zimbabwean man said. “The Covid-19 test is too much for me. If the (cost of) tests were reduced, I might make several trips per month to do my shopping in Musina, but as it is, I can come once a month at most.”

Date:19 December 2020

By: Bernard Chiguvare

Bernard Chiguvare is a Zimbabwean-born journalist. He writes mainly for the online publication, Groundup.

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