In fact, he doesn’t even know the owner of the land. His only fear is being evicted by the council authorities but this is an unfounded fear though. In a country where politicians have the final say in everything Ben is well aware that should the council bye-law officer so much as suggest he move he will quickly rush to the councilor and report how the officers are harassing him and have descended on him like a pack of wolves. Councillors live for these types of situations. Otherwise what else would they be doing?
Ben’s vegetable range is quite limited and on a good day it includes cabbage, onions, tomatoes and rape. Basically his product range is as wide as a straw and the more elite vegetables with curative properties like broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, garlic. In fact I doubt Ben has ever heard of these because one day when I asked him whether he ever stocks ginger his response went something like ‘I don’t really stock beverages’. His only encounter with ginger is in its liquid form. I once asked him if his produce was organic and he coolly responded ‘I am just trying to sell them before they go bad.’ Truth is he had never heard of the word organic.
Selling vegetables is an art form in itself and Ben is quite talented in this skill. He has developed a whole jargon of floral language to lure people to his corner. His sales pitch is infused with intrigue and pleasures to be discovered on eating his vegetables. Sometimes Ben pretends to be the farmer who’s personally cultivated a relationship with each vegetable, sometimes even giving them names and backstories. "Fresh from the farm—seriously, I just picked it myself this morning!”
But just like the pesticide DDT which was once a potent pesticide but fizzled out as the pests developed resistance to it the potency of Ben’s advertising keeps fading off like a WiFi signal during a storm in Botswana - one moment you’re streaming smoothly, the next you’re buffering into oblivion. So he has to constantly reinvent his pitch to ensnare more people.
A few years ago government decided to restrict the entry of vegetables from South Africa in order to give local farmers a chance to grow and get rich. Like a bouncer at an exclusive club government has changed its stance to something like ‘Sorry, potatoes, only local vegetables can enter tonight. Local cabbage, you're on the VIP list, but no foreign bananas allowed tonight’. Ben has his own views around the vegetable ban which he has shared with me. Bottom line is he is only interested in getting enough stock and ensnaring the next set of gullibles who fall for his ever-evolving sales pitch.
(For comments, feedback and insults email [email protected])
Thulaganyo Jankey is a Rapporteur and training consultant who runs his own training consultancy that provides training in BQA- accredited courses. His other services include registering consultancies with BQA and developing training courses. Contact him on 74447920 or email [email protected]
