Dumping site residents need help
Being called scavengers offend the people who make a living at the eMzinoni dumping site.
eMZINONI – Poverty, unemployment and being homeless have pushed some people to the backside of the township.
The mothers, fathers and sons and daughters lost their titles and dignity and are now called scavengers.
They wake up to search for food, clothes and recyclables at the eMzinoni dumping site.
Some are permanent residents at the site and others arrive in the morning and leave late in the evening.
Mr David Bangwa (46) has been living at the dumping site for over a decade.
He said he sleeps in the township in the winter and builds a shack at the dumping site with plastic and sacks in the summer.
Mr Bangwa collects recyclable items, such as cans, paper and steel and sells them to those who do recycling.
He said they come every afternoon to collect the items and pay him R10 per bag.
“This is not an easy lifestyle and no human should live like we do, but what can we do?
“We do not have anything and the R30 that I earn a day is better than nothing.
“People no longer treat us with dignity and we are called various names, but we probably deserve it because we are living at the dumping site.”
A woman said she wants to become a domestic worker or wishes to do any work, because she is tired of living at the dumping site with her children.
“Life is not safe and we often become victims of rape.
“People come here to commit crime and this is a bad place for especially women and children.”
They said the only happy times are on Mandela Day or Christmas when people visit them and give them food.
Some of the people at the dumping site were victims of the recent evictions in Extension 23.
They did not have any place to go to or relatives to help them and they ended up at the dumping site.
“I am still adapting, but it is not easy and my son often goes to school without having had a bath and food.”
The dwellers agree that the only thing that can help them, is to find a job.
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