Black buying power, white business and the politics of Nelson Mandela Square

In 1988 South Africa saw the launch of one of its fashion boutiques — a man’s shop called Aca Joe. I started buying from it and was one of its countless African male customers. I don’t exactly know why. Maybe I was hungry for something indigenous, street wise, which was also classy and stylish.

Not too long ago I went out to Exclusive Books for some browsing, casual reading and café latte. Another African male, who looked like a university student or young professional, interrupted me as he asked if he could join me. He looked pretty smart, educated and bright and I welcomed him to the table. It is a gesture that makes all African males black brothers. I suppose I was also hungry for some company and stimulating talk.

Maybe it is not a wise thing to do in a racist environment like the Nelson Mandela Square. If you think about it, the whole place smacks of class and racism, that is, if you are willing to see it for what it is. In fact, it is so crass and unapologetic about being the nucleus of greed, vanity and selfishness that it can plunge you into deep depression.

It was not long before this black man noticed that I was carrying some parcels purchased from Aca Joe. This seemed to arouse his curiosity. He asked for how long I had been patronising the shop. I did not expect him to launch into a political tirade against what I thought was one of the most popular boutiques on the Square. But before I could answer, he told me with a kind of anger, bitterness and frustration that Aca Joe is a racist shop. “Black men like you have no business patronising such boutiques. You are feeding the monster of racism and class discrimination, which relies on black money to disrespect African customers and the ideals of an equal society.”

I asked if he was joking. “Hell, no,” he said with conviction. “They do not sell spotties and have refused to make them despite the black demand. “In fact, they are of the view that spotties would attract too many black male customers and thus lower the status, prestige and exclusivity of the label. “They only cater for the white upmarket youth who have fallen in love with their brand. As a result, they treat black customers as an ‘aspirational market,’ which presumes that Africans are forever trying to imitate whites or desire everything that they have. “I would never buy anything from that shop.”

I will call this young black man Tsepho and report that, until he engaged me, I had somewhat become apolitical as to where I bought my clothes and why I supported a particular label or shop.

With much controlled agitation, he had gone on to draw my attention to the location of the shop. “This is Nelson Mandela Square, man. Most of the shops here – unlike the others at the Sandton Mall side – specifically cater for the white rich. They do not take kindly to too many blacks walking through their doors. “It is just that money is money and they have no choice but to give the customer what he wants.”

After this short political tirade he went on to tell me about the shutting down of the Carlton Center outlet in Johannesburg’s city center. As if that was not enough, he demanded to know why the shop had not opened a branch at Maponya Mall in Soweto.
“They are not like Fabiani, for instance. Here is a fashion boutique that takes its black customers seriously. They even made the corrupt politician Tony Yengeni their poster boy.”

Of course, it is not an offence to hang out on a Saturday afternoon and enjoy a latte with a politically agitated young and monied black male. It was a bit surprising for me to pick up that Africa’s under-30-year-olds are highly politicised and very angry. One would have thought that Tsepho would not notice that Pep Stores, for instance, rarely uses African models for its clothes. It seems to select only whites and coloureds for its advertising and marketing campaigns and only uses Africans when it is advertising ‘false hair’ to black female customers.

But in an odd way, Tsepho is the new beat in the young generation of African male.
It would seem that he has no time for white racism and is ready to withdraw his buying power. In fact, his generation compromises the young men who launched boutiques like Loxion Kultur, which espoused self pride and attracted black buying power. I would say it is a welcome development. In fact, it is long overdue. Africans have no business in supporting white racist shops.

The attitude of shops like Aca Joe and Pep Stores, if what Tsepho is saying is true, are making it easy for Africans to bring back the consumer boycott and “Buy Black Campaign.” If whites think that Africans are an ‘aspirational market’ that only desires to live like whites and have everything that whites have, they have to do a serious rethink.
What this means is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Africans are not a ‘sleeping black giant,’ anymore.

The time has perhaps come for Africans not to go with cap in hand as customers to white business. It is time that they used their buying power to demand equality, respect and dignity as enshrined in the constitution. It is an ideal that Nelson Mandela was prepared to die.

I am not sure if all Africans are ready to give up on buying from Aca Joe, Pep Stores or any other white owned shop, yet. But if white business is smart, they will need to do something urgent to save themselves from being seen as perpetuating racism class, discrimination and inequality, especially at malls that carry Nelson Mandela’s name.

As for the Africans, they urgently need to use their buying power to make this country into what it ought to be: free of racism, class, discrimination and inequality. It is certainly not untrue that ‘all black men are brothers.’ My own rationalisation is that if I did not treat Tsepho like a brother, we would not have enriched and deepened each other’s understanding of what is going on at Nelson Mandela Square.

Whatever happened to Loxion Kultur? In fact, so-called black business must stop relying on white handouts and do what needs to be done to earn its money: do your own thing!
In fact, it begins by making a business out of fighting racism.