The Enos Mafokate Equestrian Club is a riding stable in the sprawling township of Soweto in South Africa, founded in 2007 by Enos Mafokate, the country’s first black showjumper and Olympic athlete in Barcelona.

The equestrian facility is currently undergoing an upgrade, for which Milmac Produce Supply, an animal feed company, has partnered with it. 

“We do fund-raising together; it’s not only about donating money. We do shows here and help promote the club and get our clients involved,” says Kirsten Bowyer, the marketing coordinator of Milmac, referring to the donations and volunteer work the facility is encouraging from the public.

July is celebrated every year as ‘Mandela Month’ in South Africa, dedicated to the late former South African president, Nelson Mandela, who was born on July 18. At the Enos Mafokate Equestrian Club in July, to honor Mandela, volunteers gave 67 minutes of their time to help with the cleaning and overhauling of the stable and yards. 

 In this image, at the facility, a young man is washing a horse at dusk, before the sun rays make way for a starry night.

Among other things, he works hard during the day cleaning the barns and ensuring the horses are safely ensconced in their stables.

May 8, a landmark day for Africa’s second biggest economy. South Africans will cast their votes for the country’s sixth general elections since the dawn of democracy in 1994.

In the run-up to the polls, the country saw flagrant protests in some parts, as disgruntled citizens expressed disapproval of their stifling living conditions. 

In this image, a resident of Alexandra, a township in the north of Johannesburg, squats in the middle of a busy road leading to the opulent precincts of Sandton, Africa’s richest square mile.  

The dichotomy of socio-economic circumstances is an accelerant in one of the country’s poorest communities filled to the brim with squatter camps and the restlessness of unemployment.

The billion-rand spaza shop (township tuckshop) industry in South Africa is not a regulated sector. Most transactions at these shops are in cash, and not electronically tracked. This makes it difficult for spaza shops to be financially credited in South Africa.

But there are now fintech solutions such as Zande Africa offering financial and distribution platforms, operating out of warehouses, to assist these spaza shops in their townships, by delivering daily necessities to them.

READ MORE: IN PICTURES | The Occupation Of Unemployment In South Africa

 In this image, Tedy Tizedo, the owner of Thandabantu, a tuckshop in Ermelo in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa, pays a local Zande Africa agent for delivering bread from its distribution warehouse.

 The fintech company provides cash and credit service offerings to all spaza shop owners and creates relationships with them for better pricing and service.