By Buziwe Nocuze
• Four women traders at Site C taxi rank received a business boost when SAPAY and Codeta bought food directly from their stalls.
• Twenty women received R70 in their SAPAY wallets while 31 passengers were treated to food bought from traders working at the rank.
A quiet Saturday turned into a good business day for women selling food at Site C taxi rank in Khayelitsha.
Instead of bringing in an outside catering company for its Women’s Day celebration, SAPAY and Codeta bought everything from women running small businesses at the rank.
For traders who depend on passing commuters to make a living, the unexpected orders brought much needed sales and even new customers.
SAPAY, which introduced a cashless payment system to the taxi industry, partnered with the Codeta Taxi Association for the initiative.
The companies bought lunch for 12 people and loaded R70 into the SAPAY wallets of 20 women.
They also treated 31 passengers to a muesli and Russian combo.
But the money did not leave the taxi rank.
Food, drinks, Russians, muesli and dessert were bought directly from four women traders working there.
For muesli seller Asanda Gatyeni, the order came on a day when bad weather could have badly affected her sales.
“When SAPAY and Codeta’s team arrived and informed me that they would need a lot of muesli, I thought they were joking,” Gatyeni said.
She only realised they were serious when she started handing cups of muesli to passengers.
“The weather was not good, so if it wasn’t for the support I got, I was not going to make sales on the day,” she said.
The boost was not only about what she sold that day.
Gatyeni said the event introduced her business to commuters who had never noticed her stall before.
“It was the first time that some passengers saw me, even though I am always at the taxi rank, and I gained new customers,” she said.
Nobubele Ntanjana, who sells Russians at the rank, also received an unexpected boost.
She said Saturdays are normally slow for her business.
“Business on Saturdays is normally quiet, but this one was different, thanks to Codeta and SAPAY,” Ntanjana said.
She said small traders are often forgotten when organisations hold events.
“We were surprised because most people don’t normally think about us when they are having programmes,” she said.
“It was a surprise, and we felt special. We appreciate that they bought from us.”
Codeta chairperson Nceba Enge said the organisation was happy to give something back to passengers and traders.
“We are happy that our passengers felt special and were happy about the gesture,” he said.
Enge said Codeta hopes there will be more programmes involving commuters and SAPAY in future.
SAPAY Strategic Projects and Implementation Manager Monique Visee said women play an important role in the taxi industry, both as commuters and traders.
“Women make up a large share of the early morning commuters on the Mfuleni and Khayelitsha routes, and of the traders working the ranks. They are the people who carry the system,” Visee said.
She said Women’s Day gave SAPAY an opportunity to do something practical instead of simply releasing a message.
That included making sure the money spent on the celebration supported businesses already operating at the taxi rank.
“We selected four women who are traders at the taxi rank because we wanted to support local and keep the spend within the rank economy, rather than bring in an outside caterer,” Visee said.
The R70 loaded into the wallets of 20 women was intended to cover the cost of a return taxi trip.
Visee said the gesture recognised what women do every day to support their households.
“The lunch was one part of that. The R70 topped up to their wallets, the cost of a return trip, was the other way of saying, ‘We see you, and we see how you carry your families,'” she said.
For the women traders, the Women’s Day initiative meant more than a free meal for passengers.
It meant sales on a quiet day, exposure to new customers and money being spent with small businesses already working inside the Khayelitsha taxi economy.
Pictured above: Women traders at Site C taxi rank received a business boost after SAPAY and Codeta bought food locally during their Women’s Day celebration.
Image source: Buziwe Nocuze.
