Don’t beg me or perform for my money
Don’t beg or perform for my change Every street corner in Benoni has become a small business enterprise. Businessmen and sometimes women beg and occasionally juggle and dance for a few Rand. Unlike the rest of the South African job market, no experience or qualifications are needed to be a beggar. Hence there are so …

Don’t beg or perform for my change
Every street corner in Benoni has become a small business enterprise.
Businessmen and sometimes women beg and occasionally juggle and dance for a few Rand.
Unlike the rest of the South African job market, no experience or qualifications are needed to be a beggar.
Hence there are so many people doing it.
These days it is hard to tell who really needs your small change and who just wants to go and buy a small packet of nyaope.
About two months ago my friend was walking to work and had taken one bite out of an apple, when she approached a young beggar, who was barely 14 years old, at the corner of Second Street and Fifth Avenue.
She gave him her apple and, instead of saying thank you, he tossed it onto the pavement and said: “I don’t want your apple, I want money”.
The nerve of this child! Aren’t beggars not supposed to be choosers?
I, for one, do not give any beggar, street dancer or circus performer my money.
Instead I try give them a “don’t try your luck with me, I know you want my change for glue” glare.
I am a very giving person, but I refuse to give beggars any of my hard earned cash.
The handicapped beggar at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Seventh Street runs perfectly well when he is not at that intersection.
The two brothers who are usually seen asking for money together are not as poor as they look.
The wheelchair beggar on the corner of Webb Street and Great North Road uses the money he gets to buy alcohol.
These little boys with bloodshot eyes who juggle and showcase their dance routines aren’t as sober as they seem.
Instead of giving them your hard-earned money, rather give them food, and if they throw it at your windscreen, at least you know they are begging for all the wrong reasons.