Life on Komani’s streets
LIFE on the streets of Komani is not easy for a group of people, their ages ranging from boys of nine to grown men.
The group has been living in man-made shelters near the Komani River and behind the small Enterprise Development Agency building.
The Department of Social Development has become involved in investigating their plight.
The Rep this week visited the group with *Ben, 32, saying some of them had been living in the area for 18 years.
He said the department had, over the years, helped some put their lives together.
“In 2006, some of us went to a place of safety in Mthatha to do pottery and woodwork and I attended a public school. I left in Grade 9 after I had a fight with the security guard.”
In 2010, about 18 youths went to a rehabilitation centre in Mthatha but were sent back the next year.
*Asanda, 24, said he was nine years old when he went to live on the streets.
“We live as a family. We have a dog but we share our food only with those we are closest to. We survive by working as car guards and pushing trolleys, while others beg for money in town.”
He said most of them spent their money on drugs.
“We live on the streets because we want to run our own lives. Some left our homes because we raped or robbed people, others were chased away because of their destructive behaviour.”
He said while the younger children sniffed glue, older ones used dagga, tik or Mandrax.
Another challenge was that men often arrived in vehicles to collect young boys for sex.
“They are only too pleased to get R50 for glue, but these men are ruining their lives.”
*Sizwe, 19, from Unifound, said, “My mother died in 2012 and my father is in prison. My dream is to be a businessman, employ people and assist the rest of my family.
“If I got a chance to go to rehab I would to get clean and fix my life.”
* Bonga, 29, said he stopped school in Grade 6. “I went to the streets after I was released from eight months in jail for assault. Previously I lived with family in Sterkstroom, but left because I did not want to be a burden. It’s not nice depending on people and having them complaining, though they never chased me away.”
His dream was to get a job and start his own family.
*Litha, 19, left school in Grade 7. He does not know his parents and lived with relatives in Enkululekweni where he was ill-treated. I would like to go home but my aunt does not want me. My dream is to get a job and my own place to stay.”
The Community Policing Forum said this week complaints of break-ins in the area and theft of car batteries had alerted them, the police and civil society to the problem in the central business district of town.
The forum had also asked the Social Development Department to intervene to see what could be done for the group living on the streets of Komani.
Questions were sent to the Social Development Department offices in Komani as well as to the Eastern Cape provincial offices but at the time of going to press, no response had been received.
*Names have been changed.
‘We survive by working as car guards and by pushing trolleys while others beg for money’