By Buziwe Nocuze
- Bongiwe Rafa, founder of Yizani Sakhe in Gugulethu, is offering free six-week baking training to 50 unemployed people, starting 20 July 2026.
- Bulelwa Tati, 30, is one of those waiting to join. Her family of seven depends on her mother’s grant and sometimes skips cooking to make the money last.
Bongiwe Rafa has a bakery in Gugulethu and she is not keeping it to herself.
Starting 20 July 2026, Rafa will open her Yizani Sakhe mini-bakery to 50 unemployed people for six weeks of free baking training. They will learn to bake, take home everything they make, and walk away with a certificate of completion. The idea is simple: leave with a skill you can sell.
“Assisting residents with food parcels is good, but that is not a solution because what will happen when the food is finished? Giving them free baking skills means they can start their own businesses and be able to put food on the table for their families,” Rafa said.
She started Yizani Sakhe after watching unemployment hollow out her community. The child support grant, she said, was never designed to carry a whole household.
“The unemployment rate is too high. Those who depend on child support grants cannot cover everything with the money, and they run out of food before the month ends,” she said.
Bulelwa Tati, a 30-year-old from Gugulethu, is already helping out at Yizani Sakhe while she waits for the programme to begin. She is one of seven people in her household, all depending on her mother’s grant.
“To ensure food does not run out before her grant payday, we sometimes do not cook. We eat bread or vetkoek,” Tati said.
The programme is opening a door she did not have before.
“This opportunity will make a huge change because I am not working. It is opening doors for me to start a business and help buy food and other things for my family,” she said.
Rafa will follow up with every participant after the six weeks to find out whether they have started a business.
Ward 39 councillor Thembinkosi Mjuza said Rafa is directly addressing the socioeconomic problems of the community and called on the City to direct ward budgets toward programmes like hers.
Anyone interested in joining the free programme can contact Bongiwe Rafa directly on 084 416 6252. The programme starts 20 July 2026 and takes 50 participants.
Pictured above: Bulelwa Tati helps out at the Yizani Sakhe bakery in Gugulethu while she waits for the free six-week baking programme to begin on 20 July 2026.
Image source: Buziwe Nocuze
