A derelict water pump station in Muizenberg may be one of Cape Town’s smallest beachfront homes. But this vacant space has no lavish interior and its occupant is one of the many homeless people in Cape Town, with no job and no food.
For about three months, 45-year-old Arthur Mahlangu has lived in this concrete structure, about the width of three rulers, less than a metre.
The building is situated on the sand dunes next to the Zandvlei canal, which is near the Muizenberg waterslide.
Mahlangu can often be seen sitting on a rock in front of his tiny abode.
Speaking to the Cape Argus this week, he had little recollection of his life before arriving there, only saying he had lost his job, wife and four children.
While he remained concerned that readers would “laugh” at the conditions he found himself in, he also admitted he dreamed of having a proper home.
Inside his minute “house”, Mahlangu has neatly organised one space into what resembles a kitchen, where plastic ice cream containers are stacked.
Above the items is a plank, perched like a rack, and on it an empty 500ml coke bottle, a piece of bread, a half-eaten apple and a plastic cup.
A refuse bag contains two blankets to keep him warm at night.
The space is so tiny he either has to curl his body up or sleep in a sitting position.
During the interview, a mouse scurried out of the structure but Mahlangu seemed unconcerned. He said he had become used to the creatures.
Asked where he found the food wrapped in a plastic bag on the ground next to him, he said: “I picked it up. Every day I just search for something to eat.”
Neville Williams, 20, from the Zandvlei Nature Conservation, who has been working nearby, said he had speculated whether the structure was Mahlangu’s home.
“Since we came here about two weeks ago, I always saw him standing or sitting here and wondered if he sleeps here and where he gets his food from,” he said.
- Cape Argus