By Bongiwe Dlamini

MBABANE: Dr Tambo Gina, the Acting Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade officially relaunched the Luyengo OK MiniMark on Thursday.

According to Government online platforms, the shop is one of those that were burnt down by arsonists during the June 2021 unrest, causing damage worth a combined E67million across the OK Group alone. 

“Government, through the Reconstruction Fund,has been able to assist this business to rebuild and be back to business.Under the Fund, the business has benefitted to the tune of E7 Million covering also other stores under the Linac Investments It is not only OK Foods that was affected but also their suppliers through a decline in the volumes of orders and they also had to lay-off and retrench staff as a result. The industry as a whole suffered major stock shortages due to the unrest, as many manufacturers lost their businesses and could not produce enough to sustain the demand, which in turn saw price increases across a number of basic commodities,” said the Acting Minister as quoted by Government online platforms.

On another note, Linac Enterprises Director Lincoln Motsa thanked the Government of Eswatini for the prompt action in visiting all affected sites and businesses after the unrest, to assess the extent of damage. 

“From the unrest, eight of our stores were looted, vandalised and burnt down. We lost more than half of our investment in this country,” said the businessman.

The official relaunch was attended by among others, Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo who is  an MP of the area.

OK MiniMark is under the management of Linac Enterprises, a 100% liSwati owned retail business trading under the OK Foods, MiniMark, and Liquor Franchise. The business was established in 2007, and currently has seven supermarkets, and five liquor stores, employing 531 emaSwati.