Vendor shattered after mobile kitchen goes missing

A young chef is devastated after a mobile kitchen he bought for R70,000 went missing.

Kwanele Mbatha, 29, of Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal, last stored his mobile kitchen at the University of KZN, Westville campus on December 19 before he went home for the festive holidays.

He operated his business selling food around UKZN’s campuses from his mobile kitchen.

Mbatha said when he went back to the Westville campus on February 10, he did not find his mobile kitchen where he had left it.

“I didn’t understand what was going on. I was shattered, disappointed and ashamed. I felt like I was being violated,” said Mbatha.

Mbatha said he spent R70,000 to buy the mobile kitchen and an additional R130,000 for the equipment and stock of his mobile kitchen.

He said he got money from the savings his late brother left him and the money he saved from bursary allowances he received while he was still a student at UKZN between 2011 and 2012, and again from 2016 to 2018.

Mbatha, who told Sowetan that he is a registered vendor at UKZN, said he started operating his mobile kitchen in 2018 at UKZN’s Pietermaritzburg campus.

Then in November 2019, he worked at the Edgewood campus.

In early 2020 he started operating at the Westville campus.

Mbatha sold traditional township foods such as kotas, wors, chips, meats, and other fast foods. 

The young man, who comes from a family of six grown-up children, said his mobile kitchen was his main source of income.

“I used the mobile kitchen to support my unemployed brothers and their kids. I wish to get it back,” said Mbatha.

Mbatha said he is prepared to start again if he doesn’t find his mobile kitchen.

“I am appealing to the public to come forward with information if they have seen it. If it doesn’t come back, I will start afresh,” he said.

UKZN spokesperson Normah Zondo said the matter is still under investigation.

“Mr Mbatha was not a registered vendor for the Westville campus and was therefore not authorised to conduct business on this campus. He had a lease to operate his mobile kitchen at the Edgewood campus. Nonetheless, the university’s risk management services have been working with SAPS to assist Mr Mbatha,” said Zondo.

Zondo said the university does not insure the vendors.

KZN police spokesperson Capt Nqobile Gwala confirmed that a case was opened at the Westville police station, saying it was still under investigation.