Business
PHOTOS & VIDEO: South African Man Laments Businesses Dying After Foreigners Left
In the nighttime video, a South African man walks through the streets while filming and speaking to the camera. He shows various spots to illustrate his point.
He says:
“Business is dying in South Africa. Nobody is making money. Africans have left, and now we have our own businesses. It’s very clean, but it’s also very quiet.”
(Here “Africans” refers to foreign African nationals — immigrants and traders from other African countries such as Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and others who operated businesses, shops, and stalls in the area.)
He points the camera toward a food stall with well-grilled chicken and other meats on display, but notes there are no customers around. He then pans to an empty club area, saying it used to be bubbling and packed at this time, but now it’s completely quiet because the people (foreign Africans) who used to make the place busy have gone.
He continues:
“Around this time on a normal Saturday, you couldn’t even get through this street because it would be packed. But look at it now.”
The man adds that it will even be worse in the coming weeks because more foreigners will leave.
Purpose of the video:
The video is a direct on-the-ground complaint about the economic decline in the area. The man is showing the visible emptiness — quiet streets, idle food vendors with grilled chicken but no buyers, and a once-lively club now deserted — to demonstrate how the departure of foreign African nationals (who drove much of the customer traffic and hustle) has hurt local businesses. He warns that the situation will deteriorate further as more foreigners leave.
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