Thembekile Duma joined ACAT in 2019, just before Covid-19.

Thembekile Duma joined ACAT in 2019, just before Covid-19.
Zanele Gwala stands in her aunt’s tuck shop. Her aunt, Thembekile Duma joined ACAT in 2019, just before Covid-19. Thembekile said it was difficult to survive, but this tuck shop came about to answer the needs of the people confined to their homes because of the restrictions in the movement imposed by lockdown. In 2020 and 2021 she made a good profit from her shop which she used to join a savings club, and buy school shoes for her school going child. However, she feels threatened by others who have come in from outside the community, and who have taken over other shops in the area, because they have capacity to fill up these shops like small supermarkets. The competition now is huge she says.