She has seen many come and go over the years, having been making a living by being a street vendor in the streets of Braamfontein for over 20 years.
When Phumzile Mlangeni, 53, arrived on the streets of Braamfontein two decades ago, she never saw herself as a street vendor. However, due to a lack of job opportunities, she had no choice but to end up taking that path.
Mlangeni, hails from the dusty streets of Bergville, in KwaZulu-Natal, but, currently resides in Orlando in Soweto where she lives with her two children and three grandchildren.
She has seen many people come and go over the years, as she has been making a living as a street vendor in the streets of Braamfontein for over 20 years.
Braamfontein, dubbed ‘Braam,’ is home to the University of Witwatersrand’s main campus as well as South Africa’s Constitutional court. It is an area that is largely populated by students and is known for a combination of theatres, hotels, restaurants, shops, office buildings, and student accommodations.
Mlangeni came to Johannesburg, in 1999, all the way from the village with high hopes of getting a job so she can provide for herself and her children.
However, with no luck in her search, she decided that sitting around twiddling her thumbs was not an option, and thought of something that would in turn help her put food on the table.
It was from that time when she started selling fruits, scones and snacks in the streets to students and those who passed by.
“This is the way I make a living, I am trying my best so that when my grandchildren say ‘Gogo’ there is no bread in the house, I can buy bread for them because I do not have a job,” says Mlangeni.
In a defeated tone, she said her greatest desire is to grow her small business, but her hands are tied as she has three grandchildren depending on her.
“Everything that is needed and needs to be done needs money,” she said with a heavy sigh while packing South Africa’s favourite snack ‘amaskopas.’
‘Amaskopas,’ are classic Kasi (township) snacks, commonly described as sweet and chewy multi-coloured popcorn.
She said her oldest grandchild is 17-years-old and currently in matric, the second oldest is 14-years-old, in Grade 9 and the youngest who is 10-years-old is still in primary school.
“The situation is not easy, we still try to make the best out of life, and they all look to me because their mothers do not have jobs.”
Phumzile stays hopeful that the right opportunity will come along someday. Enabling her to do more for her family, taking them out of their current situation and into a better one.
IOL has embarked on a campaign called Elevate Her to highlight the plight of homeless women of South Africa. IOL is also collecting items for dignity packs to be distributed across the country. To get involved, email info@iol.co.za
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