No right to Trade ................

Every Skills Development Provider has suffered during Covid, whereby some needed to give up their premises. I mean, if we look at the logic in the situation, why would you pay for a rental agreement, when your classrooms are empty? It hit some small businesses so hard - but this we all know. I am stating this, because it is a fact for so many. If you are reading this today - you made it, and I hope you are healthy.

The recovery of such a pandemic will take years, and so we continue to try and pick up the pieces and the fast pace of getting back to where we were pre-COVID disaster. For some, it seems absolutely impossible - but we keep going, hoping for a break or some miracle.

Having empty classrooms is not ideal, but sharing premises and reducing the costs will help. So, this is what several small businesses did. Although others see this as competition, several small businesses started working towards the same goal: Keeping their business open, keeping their staff - and negotiating with a Landlord, to "split" premises into two parts, so that two or more small businesses can make use of the premises. This makes sense to the normal business man/woman ......................

I feel like writing a Chappies: Did you know article at this stage, so here it goes:

Did you know, if you are a Skills Development Provider, and you share a building with another Skills Development Provider, whereby you have the same physical address, that only one of the SDPs will obtain accreditation now, as you may not have the same physical address as another provider - even if there are two different lease agreements........... The only time that this will be allowed is when the SDP is on a different floor level. For instance ABC is on the First Floor, and DEF is on the 2nd Floor. The floor levels make the physical address different. But you may not share the same floor level, nor may you have the same physical address.

Perhaps this was a mistake by the powers that be - but a rather strange mistake. When things like this happen, I always wonder: How does our Constitution help us, when decisions are made against it? So, today I have questions:

1. Do we not have the right to trade anymore?
2. Are we not allowed to work with one another to bring down costs - and share the benefits together?
3. Is this a deliberate manner to force small SDPs to close their doors and why?
4. Does Ubuntu still exist?
5. How much more can small businesses in the education sector take, before they completely give up with the red-tape and unfairness?

I close off with: "The five core values of Ubuntu as identified by Mbigi (1997:33) are: survival, spirit of solidarity, compassion, respect and dignity. Survival enabled African communities, during harsh environmental conditions, to rely on each other for existence despite differences they might have had amongst themselves".

If you are sitting in this situation: I pray that you have another solution, and that your business will find a way to survive this red-tape.