Johannesburg - When most of us are consigned to slumber and deep sleep, Hopewell Makape is awake and ready to go to work as a newspaper hawker in Tshwane. He lives in the Winnie Mandela informal settlement, outside Ekurhuleni.
Whilst his job earns him peanuts, with his wages falling short of the national minimum wage baseline as set out by government, he loves his job as a paper man, as a conduit between media houses and people on the streets in newspaper distribution.
Makape uses our country’s unreliable “public” transport system every day, in order to be able to reach the distribution centre on time. His daily commuting costs can buy him "lamb chops and veggies" at many Rosebank restaurants. He usually spends long hours at the taxi rank in a queue, travelling between Ekurhuleni and Tshwane on a frequent basis.
His selling spot is at a busy traffic intersection in the Pretoria CBD, which is not far from the Department of Labour and Employment Head office. He is fondly known as “Lumpen” amongst his customers and taxi drivers. Makape’s daily breakfast is "amagwinya and atchar" which he buys from Mrs Morake who sells them from a makeshift table on the corner of Francis Baard and Lillian Ngoyi streets.
The country is now on day 59 since the lockdown was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Makape has not been to his favourite "workplace". The lockdown has meant suspension, which has meant loss of income for Makape.
He has no other source of income to support his big family. He’s seriously struggling to make ends meet. His job has been swallowed by Covid-19 and will no longer exist under the new normal. The media houses themselves are in a highly pressured financial position as a result of loss of sales.
Despite this sad reality, Makape remains positive that Health Minister Zweli Mkhize and the president are providing much needed leadership in the face of the pandemic and that the nation will defeat it, the socio-economic vicissitudes that this has brought to the people notwithstanding.
The Harry Gwala Foundation, through its #WeCare food programme, will be providing much needed relief to Makape and many of his counterparts in the informal sector.
These are neglected and forgotten workers, who make sure that we are informed on current affairs and happenings in our beautiful country and the world at large. Donors have made it possible to support about 90 newspaper hawkers in Tshwane.
Our #WeCare programme is a response to President Ramaphosa’s call for all patriotic South Africans to lend a hand during this difficult period. We are giving practical action to the #ThumaMina call.
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