Social justice chair
August 22, 2022
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August 23, 2022
Gugulethu’s sweetest business
Vuyo Myoli has set himself up as a beekeeper in the Cape Town township.
Words And Images: Ashraf Hendricks, Published originally on www.groundup.co.za
Near a roaring train line and informal market in Gugulethu, the unexpected sound of bees buzzing can be heard from a nearby high school. But these are not wild bees. They belong to Vuyo Myoli, who has set himself up with a small urban beekeeping business. “I’m a farmer by day and artist by night,” says Vuyo, a musician who started beekeeping two years ago.
He has a small honey business called Beez Move and he has two active hives at the Gugulethu Comprehensive High School (Intshukumo), alongside a community garden.
“The idea is to give a free pollination service to these market gardens,” says Vuyo. With the hives placed near the gardens, bees nourish and pollinate the crops. With the knowledge he has gained from mentors over the past three years, he also wishes to educate his community. Vuyo runs workshops in agriculture and beekeeping.
“They think bees are enemies,” he says. “Bees are friendly. They react to what you are doing. They don’t just attack you.”
Vuyo says he fell into a deep depression around 2014 because of the ups and downs of the music industry. “I needed something that would keep me grounded.” In high school, he learnt about agriculture. These lessons came back to him, and in 2017 he started with small gardens in his community. This helped him out of his depression.
“To touch soil is therapy,” he says.
When he reconnected with an old musician friend from Stellenbosch, who is a beekeeper, he was introduced to apiculture.
Vuyo says most people think gardening is for old people. “They don’t realise that it’s a very important thing. It’s part of our food security.”
Apart from honey, bees produce wax which can be used for medicines, soap, and hair products. Bees also produce propolis, which they create to tightly seal the hive, and which has medicinal value.
As a musician, Vuyo says that honey is necessary backstage to “clean your throat” and “boost your vocal cords”.
When he started beekeeping, his first bees died. “I removed them in winter,” he says. He wasn’t sure what they needed to eat.
He has also had to deal with vandalism. Recently, someone jumped over his fence and tried to steal his hive.
“When you’re keeping bees in the wild, you’re worried about baboons.
I thought that we were safe in the township until the incident happened,” he says.
In Gugulethu, space is an issue for keeping bees. “Not a lot of people will allow you to place bees in their areas,” Vuyo says.
He explains he has never been stung, but the volunteers he works with have. “I don’t know … maybe they know my smell.” There are costs in setting up as a beekeeper, he says. A swarm of bees can cost R1 000; the beehive R1 500; the safety equipment R1 200. Vuyo sells his honey for R100 for a 500g jar, and he can get up to 25kg in a season. He mostly sells to early childhood development centres through the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading Programme and the City’s Expanded Public Works Programme of which he is a part.
In spring, Vuyo will move his operation to Manelisi’s Urban Farm in Gugulethu. His goal is to expand his business to 40 hives and start producing wax and propolis products. To do this he needs hives, extractors and a container to house his business.
