Mzoli's was a

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesal ...

y in

Gugulethu Gugulethu is a township in the Western Cape, South Africa and is 15 km from Cape Town. Its name is a contraction of ''igugu lethu'', which is Xhosa for ''our pride''. The township was established along with Nyanga in the 1960s. History The ...

, a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

on the outskirts of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa. Since Mzoli's opened in early 2003, the restaurant had become a popular gathering spot for Cape Town residents and a

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

attraction. Amongst Gugulethu's residents, Mzoli's Place has a reputation for public drunkenness and disrespect for the local community. Mzoli's is named after the founder and owner, Mzoli Ngcawuzele. The restaurant closed indefinitely in May 2021 partly due to the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

History

The establishment opened in early 2003. Owner Mzoli Ngcawuzele obtained start-up funding from the

Development Bank of South Africa The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) is a development finance institution wholly owned by the Government of South Africa. The bank intends to "accelerate sustainable socio-economic development in the Southern African Development Communi ...

, which supports black-owned businesses. In October 2006, an economic study said that Mzoli had "moved, from selling meat informally from a garage, to owning one of the most popular hangouts in Cape Town". On November 19, 2006, more than 40 people including a group of tourists and Democratic Alliance councillor

Masizole Mnqasela Masizole Mnqasela (born 1 March 1981) is a South African politician, formerly the 7th Speaker of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. He was previously a Member of Parliament with the Democratic Alliance from 2009 to 2014, the Shadow Ministe ...

, were arrested in a

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

raid for drinking in public. The restaurant did not sell alcohol, but Ngcawuzele explained that he could not stop people from bringing their own. Magistrate Donald Grobler accepted Mnqasela's evidence and he received 100,000

South African rand The South African rand, or simply the rand, ( sign: R; code: ZAR) is the official currency of the Southern African Common Monetary Area: South Africa, Namibia (alongside the Namibian dollar), Lesotho (alongside the Lesotho loti) and Eswatini ...

after winning his civil case against the police. Some local residents near a long-planned shopping mall that is being built by a business partly owned by Mzoli's owner criticized his plans in 2008. Some businesses were legally evicted or threatened with eviction from older buildings owned by Mzoli, which were then knocked down to make room for the new property development. In 2018, Mzoli's was temporarily closed due to a car in front of the butchery being set alight in a protest for better housing. In 2020, amidst rumours that Mzoli Ngcawuzele had died, the ''

Daily Sun The ''Daily Sun'' is the largest daily newspaper in South Africa. ''Daily Sun'' may also refer to the following newspapers: United States * ''Arizona Daily Sun'', Flagstaff, Arizona * ''Bowdoin Daily Sun'', Connecticut, published by Bowdoin Colleg ...

'' reported that he was "still alive and well" and was celebrating his 66th birthday. In May 2021, the restaurant was closed indefinitely. Mzoli Ngcawuzele's daughter Sisanda Mangele said it closed due to "a lot of things, from physical safety to the state of the economy and restrictions of the pandemic".

Reception

Located in the

, a black neighbourhood southeast of the centre of Cape Town, Mzoli's was a "

do-it-yourself "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...

" market and eatery, selling meat to patrons who in turn hired independent

entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

running

braai Barbecue varies by the type of meat, sauce, rub, or other flavorings used, the point in barbecuing at which they are added, the role smoke plays, the equipment and fuel used, cooking temperature, and cooking time. The meat may be whole, groun ...

stalls on the grounds to grill the meat and prepare meals. Mzoli's also provided live entertainment and has become noted as a venue for

deep house Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard ( ...

and

kwaito Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, during the 1990s. It is a variant of house music that features the use of African sounds and samples. Kwaito songs occur at a slower tempo range than other styles of h ...

music. As well as local people, Mzoli's attracted

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

stars A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

, DJs such as DJ Fresh,

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

s such as

Tony Yengeni Tony Sithembiso Yengeni (born 11 October 1954) is a South African politician. He was an anti-Apartheid activist and joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1976 and later its armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. From 1994 until 2003 he served as ...

businesspeople A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the ...

s, and

college student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementary ...

s. British chef

Jamie Oliver James Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants. Oliver reache ...

featured Mzoli's on the cover of his magazine in April 2009. He described Mzoli's as "sexy" and praised the "incredible flavor" of its grilled meat. He added that due to the hot temperature in South Africa they can't hang meat like in Europe so they would just kill it, gut it, skin it and eat it. Tina Walsh of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called it "a big open-air shack" which "has a devoted following". In 2016, the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...

show '' Secret Eats with Adam Richman'' featured a segment at Mzoli's during the episode " Clock and Dagger" which was filmed in Cape Town.

Notes

References

{{good article Black-owned restaurants 2003 establishments in South Africa 2021 disestablishments in South Africa Buildings and structures in Cape Town Butcher shops Food and drink companies based in Cape Town Restaurants disestablished in 2021 Restaurants established in 2003 Restaurants in South Africa Defunct restaurants Shops in South Africa Tourist attractions in Cape Town Restaurants disestablished during the COVID-19 pandemic

History

Reception

See also

Notes

References