'For me metal is not something dirty that I look at and just ignore. It is money. ' Meet the women who sleep next to the road, playing a risky scrap metal game.
On the road, in a desperate attempt to earn a living, Vuyiswa Pikini collects scrap metal in Elliotdale and sells them in Durban. Picture: Lubabalo Ngcukana
She said she made about R2 200 the last time she went to Durban two weeks ago to sell her scrap metals, which she collects around Elliotdale, where she stays. Pikini said she had, however, managed to support her family, which included two grandchildren, through the little money she made from collecting scrap metal.
“I started working as a teacher in 1971 but my pension was counted as though I started in 1990. So, it means all the other years before that government had robbed me of my money. I used my labour for nothing. I was a permanent teacher all those years but come out with nothing to show for it. “When you reach Durban you might sleep another night outside the factory that buys these scrap metals, depending on the queue, then, if you are lucky, depending on the weight of the load, you can make up to R2 000,” she said.
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