From hosting the president to packing it all up: Why Thembisa’s iconic Imbizo Shisanyama shut its doors

For years Imbizo Shisanyama in Thembisa was a shining light of excellence and success. But just months after it hosted President Cyril Ramaphosa and many South African celebrities, the music at the popular venue played for the last time. 

Imbizo Shisanyama was the crown of the Mall of Thembisa, occupying two floors of the shopping centre, and a lifeline for small township businesses that supplied the restaurant. 

CEO of Imbizo Shisanyama Rita Zwane told TimesLIVE about her decision to close the venue, a decision which put 40 direct jobs at risk and dozens of others by extension.

Zwane opened the Thembisa restaurant on November 20 2020, the third branch after Midrand Mall and Busy Corner in Ebony Park.

She said the luxurious shisanyama in Thembisa was a realisation of a lifelong dream since starting her business 26 years ago operating from a container.   

“When I saw that space, I said, 'Wow! This is it — this is a dream come true for an African child.' Having been in the township and managed the business for more than 20 years, I knew how important it was for the growth of the business to be part of the retail space value chain,” she said. 

Zwane opened the branch a month before Gauteng experienced a third surge in Covid-19 infections. 

“We were already suffering from the alcohol sales ban and we thought by January 2021 things would be better and the restrictions would have eased but things got worse.

“I had an internal challenge, between myself [as] a business person who needed to take business decisions to stop operations and [as] a mentor who needed to look after livelihoods,” she said. 

Zwane said the business did not fully recover from the effects of the pandemic and this was worsened by load-shedding and plummeting consumer buying power.

She said these factors led to her closing the doors of the branch on May 29, after operating for three years. 

“The middle-class clientele had shrunk due to job losses and having a space like that needed consumers regularly to be able to cover operational obligations. All these factors left the business not able to continue to operate.”

Poor service delivery in the densely populated township also contributed to the closure of the business, Zwane said.

She said she thought there would be an improvement in service delivery after Ramaphosa visited the restaurant in October 2021, a month before the local government elections.

“There are potholes everywhere, the traffic lights are not working, so a person coming to the restaurant gets stuck in traffic for an hour.

“I want to believe when the president drove through the townships, he experienced the service delivery issues such as the potholes and dilapidating infrastructure.

“I had hoped the visit would make a difference for the township economy,” she said.

Zwane said load-shedding had resulted in the closure of many small- and medium-sized businesses in townships and negatively affected the branch.

“Even when you have a generator, people are scared to leave their houses at night in the dark because of crime. We would sit without having any patrons for hours because of load-shedding. That kills a business like ours.”

The hardest part about the closure was delivering the news to the 40 employees. Zwane said she was able to save about 60% of the jobs by re-employing them in other restaurants.

“Some of the employees that we were not able to absorb will start their own businesses and other people I've recommended to be hired by other small and medium businesses.

“Young entrepreneurs need to understand and see that when you take business risks, there are chances that it may go your way and it may not. They should not be afraid that ours did not work out. 

“As a business person, I'm glad I took that decision [to close] because at the end of the day, we need to ensure the business is profitable — and if that is not happening, after some time you become OK with taking such a decision.”

Many patrons of the restaurant said they were heartbroken over its closure.

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.