PHUTI MOSOMANE
FOR the past five days at the ANC’s 55th national elective conference, delegates were served coffee by three learners from Emshukantambo Secondary School in Pimville, Soweto.
One of the three girls is a 15-year old Grade 10 Pimville pupil, Boitumelo Eland, who served ”countless” cups of freshly brewed, Soweto-inspired coffee to hundreds of ANC delegates.
“This is a coffee revolution. The experience at the ANC event Nasrec has been great. I am learning skills and the Soweto Coffee culture. I am learning more about the Coffee Culture,’’ said Eland.
Eland and her two fellow pupils get to the shop early in the mornings to prepare coffee for delegates and journalists.
They share responsibilities according to their strength.
Brewing the coffee, serving it to delegates and managing customer relations in the process.
For the last five months, Eland has been with Soweto’s newest locally made coffee brand, Huis Van Cofifi (HVC).
She is just one of the 40 learners who were taken in through an initiative by Director and Co-founder of HVC, Sibusiso Sibeko, who is 33 years old.
Learners from grade 10 to Grade 12 benefit from the launch of Soweto’s coffee brand Huis Van Cofifi (HVC).
“The initiative is about youth empowerment through the transaction of coffee,” Sibeko said.
In the last two years, Sibeko has taken in about 40 township children and taught them on how to make coffee.
It is locally made and is currently offering free practical and theoretical experience to learners in the coffee-making business.
Sibeko has partnered with three schools in Johannesburg and is training 40 township pupils in making coffee by giving them exposure to different skills.
In an exclusive interview with Inside Politics, Eland said the experience at the 55th National Congress of the ANC was great, but the party needs more young people in its leadership and decision making.
“I feel like the youth are being excluded from participating in the conference debates. It is sad because decisions taken at the conference are going to affect us. We should be included,” said Eland.
She would like to see change in Soweto, a future where young people are freed from drug abuse and teenage pregnancy.
“Young people are exposed to the things that they are not supposed to be exposed to, and we need to change that mentality,” she said, adding that there should be youth programmes in townships.
A science learner, Eland’s career ambition is to become a chief surgeon.
In Pimville Soweto, E;and lives with her grandmother, unemployed mother, and a 20-year-old sister who is a sole breadwinner.
Self-funded, Sibeko has a passion to see the youth of Soweto busy and developing.
“These girls are in the middle of brewing coffee and the governing party is brewing [politics]. This is exciting for the girls. What a time to be alive during this monumental time when so much is happening,” Sibeko added.
He said he is assisting the girls transition into the world of work, not just coffee, but all aspects of work from finance to customer relations.
Sibeko appealed to the government to focus its attention on ensuring market access for township business.
Sibeko said: ”The business has been great and the exposure for the girls is phenomenal. This programme deals directly with you unemployment.”
“We are building a youth network that understands the dynamics of the economy on how the value chain works at grassroots level. The sector is monopolised. It’s very difficult to penetrate.”
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