The slow death of Phikwe continues

Small businesses struggle to make ends meet

Nearly two years after the closure of the BCL mine and life in Selebi-Phikwe

A recent study by the Botswana Council of Churches (BCC) found that the economic downturn of the former mining town has seen hawkers earn as little as 7.50 pesos a day.

"Today, I sold only 3" A small business seller said, "Now it takes a week for me to make the same profit as I used to do in a day. I earned 1,000 piastres a day, but now I'm only lucky enough to do the P500 in one day. "

Preschool owners also saw their businesses dive, reporting to BCC that they lost nearly half of their students

"Parents were taking their children away when they moved out, others could no longer afford tuition. I fear that other children will leave at the end of the year and that there has been much less enrollment for next year. "

Phikwe's business has been in decline since October 2016 and the closure of the nickel mine, which cut off all of its 5,000 employees when it went into liquidation.

Small business owners and Street vendors have struggled since since their customers were mainly composed of BCL employees, as well as the miners' dependents.The reduction in the number of customers, which resulted in lower profits, led to layoffs , an increase in working time and a reduction in the wages of some employees in these companies, while others have completely closed. 19659004] Some small business owners have pointed out that they were obliged to lower the prices of their products to attract customers.

Private schools on the other side had to dismiss teachers, while transport companies the s pbadengers have fewer pbadengers while commuters who worked for BCL stayed at home.

The study portrays Phikwe as an almost ghost town

"While walking in the shopping center of Selebi-Phikwe, one sees several vacant shops"

Some former miners would try to live acquired skills in the mine, including mechanics, welding, electricity, construction and others, but business is not operated by thriving companies. "

The struggle to generate some form of income was highlighted by the queues in the government labor offices, "which have grown longer than before, with people hoping to find some form of employment . "