Mbombela entrepreneurs coin it at ANC’s 112th birthday

Sibusiso Nkosi is renting out his six-bedroom house for a cool R10,000 a night as the economic boom grips Mbombela, Mpumalanga, ahead of the ANC's 112th birthday celebration this weekend. 

The ruling party is expected to paint the small town of Mbombela gold as thousands of its delegations from different provinces descend to celebrate the party’s birthday, which is synonymous with over-the-top parties and flaunting of riches. 

Nkosi is one of the many residents of Mbombela who have taken advantage of the festivities by identifying business opportunities.   

Nkosi from Maraffin, where the party-hosting Mbombela Stadium is situated, has surrendered his house for renting and said he was happy that the event had returned to the city after a 10-year hiatus.

“Remember we last had this kind of event in 2014 and at that time I didn’t have this house. Now they found me ready as more comrades have been calling me citing that hotels and guest houses are full. I then got quite a number of them to sleep at my place at a fee per night. I have moved my family to my parents’ home just for this week to make space for my guests,” said Nkosi.

“I will be paid R10,000 per night by a group of ANC people who are sharing the house. The people paid for Thursday and Friday only. They are also talking about extending their stay after the main event on Saturday,” said Nkosi.

Sowetan understands that hotels and guest houses are fully-booked and now visitors have started making reservations in places that are about 100km out of Mbombela including Malelane and Hazyview.

An aspiring realtor, Mash Malibe, has also jumped on the bandwagon by playing a middleman who sources high-end homes for executive leaders and guests of the ANC. She said the idea came five years ago when the party hosted a rally in the area.  

“At that time we didn’t really have the big hotels that we currently have and we had smaller B&Bs, lodges and I took the initiative and I used my own money to book about 80% of the available accommodation in Mbombela because I knew we were going to have a big number of visitors and run out of accommodation,” said Malibe.

Malibe said the aim was for guests to feel like they’re leaving home to go to another home.

“I don’t decide the pricing, only the homeowners can do that. All I do is facilitate finding a home, often first prioritising security and luxury as I look at my target of executives. I look at homes in estates, and I go for inspections before the guests move in. I would also suggest changes to the homeowners. Currently, 30 homes have been booked,” said Malibe.

The nightspots are also hoping to coin it as some have already started making renovations to hosts their guests. One such venue is The Prestige Lifestyle Grand, which is selling tables from between R5,000 to R100,000 for Sunday night. Their cheapest package offers a alcohol tab of R4,000 for four guests while its premium seat sits 15 VIP guests who will pay a cool R95,000 alcohol tab.

David Mabunda, president of the Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business, said the upcoming ANC birthday celebration had brought more business to its members compared to the previous one.

“Since last week, hotels and B&Bs have been fully booked, with some guests pleading to be squeezed in somewhere on the property as people had pre-booked earlier than expected. This celebration has brought a lot of business opportunities to our members, especially considering it was needed after the past festive season in which some businesses did not make much profit,” said Mabunda.

Jimmy Mthombeni, who sells ANC regalia in Mbombela, hopes his business will pick up today when more visitors start trickling in.

“This time around has been easy for me because I live around here and I don’t have to travel to another province as I did before. So, even if I made small sales for now, I know by Friday I will have made more because more members are ascending to Mbombela, and they will love to look beautiful in the colours of the ANC.”