Xenophobia hits TSiBA Entrepreneur

Mluleki Sinuku, the owner of Imile, designs and produces leather sandals, belts, bags and other accessories from his shipping container in Crossroads. That was up until early last week though. During the early hours of Monday the 01 March his container was burned to ground at the hands of arsonists. In the devastation he lost everything, including the 6x6 meter shipping container, custom made moulds, machinery, five months of stock, and all his raw materials. The case has been reported to the Crossroads Police who are currently conducting an investigation.

Although he is not sure who the culprits are, Mluleki believes this may be a case of xenophobia. As the 6x6 container was too large for his needs, last month he began to lease a section of the container to two Somalians, who were running a spaza shop out of the container and were sleeping inside at the time of the fire. Thankfully they escaped unharmed.

The staff from the Entrepreneurship Centre visited  Mluleki on Wednesday to assess the damage caused by the fire. The container was still standing although sections of the walls were burnt out and the distinct smell of burnt remains lingered in the air. Considering the situation, however, we found Mluleki in good spirits.

Mluleki is now left with nothing, but he hopes to rebuild from scratch. Ideally he will begin producing out of Crossroads again but this time he would like to set up shop near the city centre, getting him closer to his customers. Aside from the increased traffic he would see from the local community, Mluleki expects to capitilize on the influx of tourists for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

It remains to be seen whether Mluleki will be able to rebuild Imile to its previous stature. If you would like to help Mluleki in any way, please contact the TSiBA Entrepreneurship Centre or find his contact details below:

To Contact Mluleki
Phone: 078 156 0175
Email: msinuku@smartcape.org.za