Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • In the words of Nelson Mandela, “To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity”
  • Avbob 2023 Poetry Competition Winner: Sithembele Isaac Xhegwana of Makhanda
  • Flooding at the James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works
  • Avbob 2023 Poetry Competition Second Place: Jeannie Wallace McKeown of Makhanda
  • Residents of Extensions Nine, 10, Transit Camp, Phumlani and Enkanini voice discontent!
  • Makhanda Creatives Speak Out
  • Running towards a drug and alcohol-free Makhanda
  • What’s On 23 – 30 March
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»Uncategorized»Gran sells homebrew to survive
Uncategorized

Gran sells homebrew to survive

Grocott's MailBy Grocott's MailAugust 9, 2010No Comments2 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Patricia Mantla is one of many poor and unemployed people in Glenmore. She has now turned to making and selling home brewed alcohol to feed herself and her family. 

Patricia Mantla is one of many poor and unemployed people in Glenmore. She has now turned to making and selling home brewed alcohol to feed herself and her family. 

Mantla (54) grew up in the homelands of the Eastern Cape. Pushed by poverty, she left for Port Elizabeth, where she worked as a domestic worker to support her family. In 2001, Mantla left her four daughters behind and settled in Glenmore where where she hoped to find peace and freedom to farm.

Since then Mantla had to find different ways to earn an income for her and six grandchildren, some of whom are at school. She bought a small plot in the community’s crop field, from which hoped to feed her family. But this didn’t provide enough of an income.

Instead, Mantla focused on a more lucrative business – selling alcohol. Home-brewed mead or iqhilika is the community’s most popular and affordable drink and is sold for only R2 a pint. This business has become a last resort for many people living in underprivileged communities.

According to Mantla the drink also has medicinal properties. She believes that since bees extract nectar and other juices from various flowers and plants, honey – a key ingredient in iqhilika – contains healing properties that keeps her customers healthy.

“Even the next morning after drinking it there is no babalaas [hangover]and it encourages your appetite and sometimes cleans you out inside. My customers drink my iqhilika because they like it and none of them has reported sick from drinking it,” says Mantla proudly.

Not only are her customers satisfied but it serves to relieve the family from strife. She has had several warnings from the police about operating hours as she sometimes sells late at night – but her determination for survival is strong.

Do you think township entrepreneurs like Mantla should be able to sell alcohol without a licence? 

Previous ArticleWomen’s rugby beginners aim high
Next Article Nyaluza rugby teams test each other
Grocott's Mail

Comments are closed.

Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Humans of Makhanda

Humans of Makhanda

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.