Businesswomen in Bor town of Jonglei State said the country’s economic hardship affects their small-scale enterprises as COVID-19 lockdown continues.
In April this year, South Sudan's government imposed a partial lockdown as parts of the measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic across the country.
According to the business officials, who spoke to Radio Tamazuj from Bor town said the measures have affected the already collapsing businesses and undertakings in the country.
Mary Achol, a tailoress in Bor, said her business is facing the worst for the first time since 2004.
“Now, we hardly get 1,000 SSP as income on a daily basis, compared to 10, 000 SSP before the COVID-19 outbreak,” Achol said. “As tailoresses, our livelihood is seriously affected. This disease is so surprising. We could not import cloth materials. We just get little money by fixing torn clothes. And there are no even customers. I started this work in 2004 so I do not have other plans.”
South Sudan has so far reported more than 2,400 confirmed cases, and 47 deaths, while 1,186 people have recovered from the COVID-19 disease since the country announced its first case on April 5.
Another businesswoman, who identified herself as Mama Rebecca, said she could be forced to close her groceries’ shop if the current trend continues.
“Prices of commodities have gone up these days, a sack of onion 50kgs used to cost 28,000 SSP but now it is 50, 000 SSP, a sack of flour 50Kgs has increased to 12,500 SSP from 8,000 SSP from wholesale,” said Rebecca, a mother of 7 children. “As retailers, we get no profits. If I increase prices, no one buys and when these prices are maintained, we incur losses.”
She added, “Nowadays even getting 500 SSP daily is difficult. We just see the money but we do not feel it with our hands. Before coronavirus, sometimes I make a profit of 3,000 SSP daily. This helps me in meeting my family expenses, pay shop rents and other expenditures but now, my business is really collapsing.”
Rebecca said she could not imagine a life without income as her business collapse.
“My husband has no job. I am left to care for my 7 children including her co-wife with this business. In the evening, I take home a mug of sugar to prepare porridge. Now, as I am forced to close the shop, how will life be?” She said.
Ayuen Kur, the Deputy Secretary-General for the Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture in Jonglei, said there are over 100 businesswomen in Bor town whose retail shops are on the verge of collapsing due to price hikes and low supplies.
“Due to coronavirus, supplies are now limited. Goods are running out of stock. Again, there is a drop in purchasing power because those working for UN agencies stop coming to Marol market over COVID-19 fears,” Kur said. “This affects our women whose sole income is business.”
“People can catch COVID-19 from others who have the virus,” the World Health Organization (WHO) says on its website. “The disease spreads primarily from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth, which is expelled when a person with COVID-19 coughs, sneezes or speaks.”
The business official further appealed to the government and relevant aid agencies to provide businessmen support and loans so that they thrive in the times of COVID-19 pandemic.
“All businesses are affected but support for women means a lot for our families because they care for children,” said Kur. “We only have about 100 local businesswomen and again their businesses may collapse, if not supported.”
Sarah Makuei Deng, a tea maker in Bor’s Marol Market also told radio Tamazuj that a drop in purchasing power, due to the ban on gatherings at tea shops may lead to the closure of her business.
“Customers are scared of the disease. So, they do not come. In a day, I only get about 250 SSP. But when I started in 2018, I used to get 3,000 SSP,” said Sarah Makuei. “A cup of tea at my place sells at 100 SSP because if I increase it, there will be no customers. Prices of ingredients, charcoal and rent have gone up. As we speak, I have yet to clear 24,000 SSP as three months rental fees,”
She added, at their home, they stay for days without food with her children.
Reports show increases in the number of street children in the major towns of the country since 2013. According to authorities, the rise is largely due to economic hardships caused by the civil war and COVID-19 pandemics.
The businesswomen have appealed to the government to intervene by providing food handouts and subsidize prices for the women running businesses so that they are able to cater for their families.
For her part, Mrs. Kenya Mach, the finance secretary for the Jonglei State Women Association, admitted her peers have been abandoning their businesses since March, leading to the rise in the cases of gender-based violence in Bor.
The woman leader is earnestly pleading with the government and aid agencies to intervene.
Kenya further pointed out that they have been providing trauma healing education to the locals in parts of Bor so that they are able to adapt to the new situation in the wake of the pandemic.
Daniel Malith, the Director-General in the state youth ministry, said they had plans to empower young women with vocational training skills in tailoring, agriculture, electrical engineering but the plan was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said they will resume the empowerment initiative when the country is free from the disease because it will help the idle ones.
Meanwhile, Daniel Deng Anyang, the executive director of the civil society Jonglei Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development, said they began empowering their female counterparts by providing leadership and computer skills.
“Since January, we have graduated 55 female students. Even during the COVID-19 period, the program is now on-going because we want women to be empowered like men,” said Deng Anyang. “My request goes to the international organizations if they can partner with us by providing computers, tailoring machines and loans to those already existing businesses since we do not know as to when this disease will leave us.”