Support our vendors

SUPPORT OUR BIG ISSUE VENDORS

The Big Issue is South Africa’s number one magazine and social enterprise, creating opportunities to end poverty and exclusion. Our vendors are those people who’ve taken steps to help themselves. The Big Issue can be purchased from vendors in the suburbs of Cape Town, or from select Spar or Pick n Pay stores nationally.

To donate a wish list item to our vendors, email placements@bigissue.org.za

V&A Waterfront, Cape Town

Vendor: Aphiwe Shumi

Number: 2929

Find her at: Corner of Dock Road and Buitengracht Street

Lives in: Siqalo informal settlement near Mitchells Plain

How long selling TBI: Started in 2010 Number of children: Aphiwe has four children of her own and she is also taking care of her niece and nephew. Her brother has passed on so the responsibility of caring for her niece and nephew now falls on her.

Dream job: Social worker.

Education and courses: Aphiwe completed Grade 11 and would like to finish Grade 12. She has also completed First Aid, Community Surveys, HIV and TB courses.

Wish list: Aphiwe would like to be assisted in getting clothes for all the children in her care. She would also like
to start making plant hangers again; a skill she learned through a Big Issue project. She is appealing to her customers to help her raise funds so she can buy material and restart this business. Aphiwe would also like to pursue a security course, and she’d appreciate assistance in paying for the fees.

Corner of Dock Road and Walter Sisulu Avenue

Vendor: Noluthando Batayi

Number: 2105

Find her at: Corner of Dock Road and Walter Sisulu Avenue

Lives in: Nkanini, Khayelitsha

How long selling TBI: Since 2001, though she has been selling it sporadically since then because sometimes she gets formal employment.

Number of children: Four. The oldest, a girl, is 22. Her sons are 14, 16 and 18. Dream job: She would like to work on the front desk at a clinic or hospital. Ambitions: Noluthando would like to grow as an entrepreneur and start a business selling blankets, sheets, shoes, and clothes. She would also like to go back to school to study.

Education and courses: Passed Grade 11 and attended the College of Cape Town. She was studying office administration but had to stop her studies in order to support her children and adopted kids after her husband lost his job. Wish list: She’d like to go to a sewing school because she enjoys being a seamstress and used to make pillowcases but is also keen to learn how to make other items. Noluthando is grateful to her customers for supporting her and her husband who is also a vendor. She is appealing to Big Issue customers to continue supporting them so they can keep taking care of their children, who are growing older and whose needs are ever-increasing.