by JONNY STEINBERG
In recent weeks, I have been asking Somali shopkeepers in Cape Town the following two questions: are your businesses more or less successful than those run by South Africans in your neighbourhood? If yes or no, why?
But the most interesting answer was this: “Our shops are in the poorest parts of South Africa. Most of our customers are unemployed or on welfare. They are the laughing stock of South Africa. But when they come to our shops, they are king. They can come with R2. There are only a few things you can buy with that: single cigarettes, one or two chewing gum sticks, sweets. The customer can come with his coins and say, ‘Give me a cigarette.’ I get one. He says, ‘No, I’ve changed my mind; I want chewing gum.’ I say, ‘Yes, Bra,’ and get it. By the time I am back at the counter, he has changed his mind again. ‘No, Kwerekwere, I want sweets.’
“A South African shopkeeper will not tolerate that. He will say: ‘You are wasting my time. F*** off.’ A Somali cannot afford to say f*** off. He can only say, ‘Yes, Sissie. Yes, Bra.’ And so the laughing stock of South Africa come to us because our shops are the one place in their own country where they can say, ‘I want this!’ and someone will respond.”
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