HOW HARD WE’VE BEEN HIT BY COVID-19 – ARTS

MBABANE – “This has been the most challenging era we have had to endure in this industry.”

This is an assertion made by event organisers and support staff in the country who have felt the wrath of the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic’s restrictions as their sector was one of the most affected by the coronavirus. Since March 2020, hosting events in the country has been a cumbersome exercise as the restrictions imposed by government did not permit such because of fears that the virus would spread even further. As a measure to curb this, event organisers were hard hit since their business is highly dependent on people flocking their venues for shows. Among those affected in the Arts sector is the support staff who rely on these shows for an income to sustain their livelihoods.

waiter

*Themba Ndlangamandla, who used to earn a living as a waiter in one of the well-known establishments in the Manzini Region, mentioned that the past year had been a total nightmare.
“I used to work as a waiter at one of the renowned fun hotpots for a period of three years. I can tell you now that I have since moved out of my rented one-roomed flat and back to my parents house as I have no income,”  he said. Asked to disclose a rough estimate of the money he normally made in a day, he said the figure  amounted to E300 a day.

tips

Worth noting is that this is money he would make only from tips excluding his salary. He went on to assert that in a week, he would work for four days and when there was a show on that particular weekend, he would earn up to E500 on tips. When calculating his tips given that he worked only 16 days in a month, Ndlangamandla disclosed he would make up to E4 800 excluding his salary which was a meagre E2 500. In a year, this then equates to a total of E87 600.

affected

Waiters are not the only people who were affected during this period but also taxi drivers, sound engineers, fashion designers, graphic designers, local liquor wholesalers and the list is endless. Stanley Tsabedze, who usually hires a stall to sell at one of the biggest events held in the country, disclosed that it was a hard pill to swallow knowing that during the Easter holidays he would make up to E40 000 on profits from selling alcoholic beverages and food. He further mentioned that this was now a distant memory as he had to find other means of survival amidst the pandemic. He said there was absolutely nothing they could do to change the current status quo. Asked to comment on this, renowned MC and Public Relations Officer for Swazi Boy Nozipho Masuku said since there was no income, no money was made in the past year.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: