Toeing the poverty line

UNDERTAKING all kinds of home improvement work to survive, Frans Mthethwa is still struggling to build his own house.
Mthethwa has lived in Mzingazi Village since 1993 and before finding his first formal job, he herded cattle and did ‘piece jobs’.
Only enrolling in school at the age of 11, he studied up to Grade 6 before dropping out owing to his age, despite his father’s encouragement to stay in school.
He has nevertheless managed to support his family of eight by doing anything from tiling, plumbing, building and painting to fitting ceiling boards.
He has seven children, the eldest of whom is completing matric and the youngest is in Grade 1.
‘One day I was doing a job and the owner of the house asked me how many children I had.
‘She told me she had two boys and their father took them to the mine where he was employed to show them how he worked.
‘Look at how we work here,’ he told them. ‘If you don’t go to school this is where you’ll end up’.
‘Since then I take my boy to work with me sometimes and show him how hard I work, and tell him and the others to learn a skill.’
Mthethwa’s journey to self-sufficiency began with a Richards Bay home improvement company in 1995, learning from whoever was willing to teach him.
Twelve years later he left the company to work on his own.
‘Money is short; I sometimes don’t have enough to look after my kids’ needs,’ he said.
‘When we buy clothes, we have to buy for one child at a time. I get work here and there. If I find a permanent job I’d manage better.’
Given the chance to study a profession, he said he’d choose some form of engineering, as he has to ‘work with his hands’.
‘Everything else is fine. I’d live here even if I get more money. I just want to build my own house that is all I need,’ he said.
‘Maybe if one of my children gets ahead they can help. I can’t do it alone.’