"When our vendors lose, we lose."

According to the latest issue, the vendor market has decreased radically because its customers are following the lockdown regulations and staying indoors.

The magazine has therefore launched its Vendor Lockdown Relief Fund, as "there have not been funds allocated to help non-profit organisations, non-profit companies and public benefit organisations."

Issue #285 thanks Novus Print, NGO Uthando, Bright Future Trust (United Kingdom) and Fondation Ipsen (France) for their support of the fund.

The tourism industry holds it breath

The Big Issue takes a look into the tourism industry and reveals that entrepreneurs in the local tourism and hospitality industries are nervously waiting for the pandemic to pass.

The edition speaks to Cathy Oosterwyk, founder of Fairest Cape Meander Tours, who says, “We have since grown from strength to strength and employed more drivers and staff. We hope that this COVID-19 pandemic will not last for too long so we can continue to retain staff and empower families." 

Flatten that COVID-curve

The magazine also speaks with Dr Clio Pillay, a Cape Town medical doctor who is currently based in the United Kingdom. Pillay shares eight lessons with the #285 edition on how South Africans can learn from the countries that are most impacted by the global pandemic.

"The fate of South Africa's trajectory with COVID-19 depends on everyone working together to slow transmissions," says Pillay. 

Crime, too, is on the lockdown

Additionally, The Big Issue reports that, in the first three days of South Africa's lockdown, the Cape Town Central City Improvement District caught multiple criminals who were attempting to break into businesses and cars.

CCID CEO Tasso Evangelinos tells the magazine that the "crimes were sporadic and opportunistic". Nevertheless, the magazine celebrates the fact that the arrests raised the CCID's safety and security department’s success rate of catching criminals to 98%.


The Big Issue #285 is on sale from vendors in Cape Town from Wednesday, 20 May to Friday, 19 June 2020. Anyone outside Cape Town can buy the magazine here.

You can also buy The Big Issue for smartphones here.

For more information, visit www.bigissue.org.za. You can also follow The Big Issue on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram