Abstract
Despite political emancipation in 1993, unemployment remains problematic in South
Africa. The unemployment rate in South Africa has more than doubled, increasing from
just 13% in 1994 to over 29% in 2020 (Statistics South Africa, 2021a). To respond to
high levels of unemployment South Africans tend to create informal self-employment
opportunities, which has led to flourishing rural economies. The South African
government has recognised the need for municipal-led interventions to support rural
economies as a vehicle for economic growth (Department of Cooperative Governance
and Traditional Affairs, 2018).
Sekhukhune District Municipality (SDM), one of South Africa’s most rural and poorest
municipalities in the Limpopo Province, reports an unemployment rate of 51%, which
is considerably higher than the national unemployment rate (Statistic South Africa,
2021a). Community members in SDM are known to value indigenous forms of healing
and recreation. Moreover, the municipality is home to the indigenous tree Sclerocarya
birrea (generally known as the fruit-bearing Marula tree), sorghum and millets,
commonly ploughed and used to make home-brewed alcoholic beverages, among
other products such as herbal remedies. Few studies document the extent to which
indigenous home-brewed alcohol contributes to informal job creation.
Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the job creation and business
characteristics of informal home-brewers of alcohol. These business characteristics
include the number of employees, income generated, output produced, sales and
business challenges. The study applies a mixed-method research design,
underpinned by Participatory Action Research (PAR). Fifty-three (53) informal homebrewed
alcohol producers were interviewed in SDM, using a pre-designed and piloted
questionnaire. Findings suggest that small-scale informal home brewers in the homebrewed
alcohol sub-industry in SDM employs between 3 and 9 people on average,
mainly women, who are custodians of home-brewing knowledge. In line with the
National Framework for Local Economic Development (NFLED), this study illustrates
the kinds of government support needed by home-brewers to not only expand their
businesses but also to mitigate some of the financial and other concerns emerging in
the home-brewed alcohol sub-industry.