Lucky Lekgwathi appeals for public donations to rebuild looted ‘Grootman’ restaurant

Former Orlando Pirates captain Lucky Lekgwathi, who had his his ‘Grootman’ restaurant in Soweto destroyed by looters, is hoping for public donations amounting to R400 000 to rebuild his business.

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Lucky Lekgwathi retired from playing in 2016 and started a clothing label called ‘Fantastic14’ and then opened a restaurant called ‘Grootman’ based in Kliptown, which opened in April of this year.

Lekgwathi played 165 matches for Orlando Pirates between 2002 and 2014 and has 14 caps for Bafana Bafana.

A week ago the 44-year-old’s business was looted and vandalised – and unfortunately for Lekgwathi it was not insured.

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The former Buccaneers defender has now appealed to the public for donations to help him rebuild the popular venue among locals and Orlando Pirates fans.

In an interview with Kickoff, Lekgwathi said any donation whatsoever will help to get his business up and running again.

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“We welcome anything from R1 upwards. Anything you have will make a huge difference,” Lucky Lekgwathi said.

“I still believe ‘Grootman’ is not my shop alone, it’s everyone’s because you can franchise and call it ‘Grootman by so-and-so’.

“People are so generous, there are those who have already made their contributions like a thousand rand, R1 500, R2 000, R3 000, you see.

“The shop cost us R400 000, so I’m looking at any money that can help me with a restart. I spoke to my business partner, we forgive them [looters] , so we’re going to go to the same place [to rebuild the business], and for us it’s like a learning curve.

LEKGWATHI HAS HIS OWN FOUNDATION

“We have eight employees and most of them are from Kliptown, so it was part of job creation and again, giving back to the community.

“As you know, I have my own Foundation, and we donate food parcels, do blankets drives for pensioners. But unfortunately, because of what happened, we are unable to do that. Maybe we will wait until we rebuild our shop.

“As for my employees, we took them to my friend’s restaurants so they can carry on providing for their families for the time-being, so that when we bounce back we can take them back, cause we want the same people from the same community you see,” Lucky Lekgwathi concluded.

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