Now every day is beggar’s day
IF I HAVE to give R5 to each beggar who accosts me twice daily between my home and office, I will be R50 poorer each day – or R1 000 in a month of 20 working days.
Through a conscious decision, I do not support begging. Full stop.
Why should I part with R1 000 of my hard-earned money to people who are experts at making a sad face and who choose to panhandle or beg all day instead of earning their upkeep?
Giving money to beggars does nothing to help them get off the streets or improve their quality of life.
Most often, money given to beggars is used to buy alcohol or drugs, thus feeding an addiction and trapping them in a cycle of begging. Even if the money is used to buy food or drink, the snag is that it keeps such people away from the social and welfare service organisations that are supposed to help them.
If beggars are not given cash by the public, they will eventually queue outside the office of mayor Zandile Gumede at the Durban City Hall.
This will force her to divert ratepayers’ money being splurged on lavish funerals for high-profile members of the majority political party in eThekwini or sponsoring the likes of American rappers T.I. and Anaconda star Nicki Minaj or perhaps even bankrolling the flopped Essence Festival.
Giving cash to beggars on the streets does nothing to help them break out of the cycle they’re in. They will never ever learn to be self-sufficient.
By offering money you may be making an addiction worse, stopping that person from finding the treatment and support they need, as well as not doing anything to support the wider problem of joblessness and homelessness.
There was a time when Durban had “real” beggars. A few with twisted or missing limbs and a dirty pair of crutches would occupy vantage points outside Durban’s Early Morning Market, around the Victoria Street or “Top” Market as it was commonly known, and at other lucrative spots within the Grey Street Complex.
Then there were the beggars who regularly went from shop to shop in the city or door to door in the neighbourhoods only on a Thursday which came to be regarded as “Beggar’s Day”. Why Thursday? Let’s keep that discussion for another column.
The Thursday beggars comprised men and women who visited homes carrying a sack or two into which the mother of the household would fill dhall, rice, sugar or some vegetables. Those days, tradition determined that no beggar be turned away empty handed.
Shopkeepers would keep some small change near the till –one and two cent pieces – which they mechanically handed out to beggars as soon as they entered, without even as much as glancing at their faces. Today five and 10 cent pieces are of no use to car guards – shopping mall carparks are littered with these coins.
Increasing homelessness; the influx of thousands of job seekers into the city; growing urban decay; poor enforcement of by-laws; the proliferation of street kids; and the inflow of “refugees” through the country’s porous borders, ensure that every day of the week has now become Beggar’s Day.
I may sound cold and callous, but the fact is that no beggar will be given a handout by me.
In my defence, I pose the question: Didn’t you have to work hard for all that you have today? I’m sure that for many people, life hasn’t always been easy.
When I was in school, there were fellow pupils who could not afford school fees, shoes or a haircut and did not bring sandwiches. But they did not resort to begging on the streets. They did what they had to do – to pull themselves up. Today many of those once poor children are leading comfortable lives liberally speckled with success.
There are many state programmes that we already contribute to through our rates and taxes that should be taking care of the homeless and jobless.
If you stop throwing coins at beggars, they will be forced to go for help somewhere other than your wallets.
There is more to begging than meets the eye. It is an industry – there is a huge racket involved here which uses babies, women, the elderly and the disabled. Pity sure pays.
In India, babies are deliberately deformed after birth – having their eyes blinded or their arms and legs chopped off – so that business can flourish.
Children would be snatched off the streets by gangs, maimed and sent out to beg for money. The children are forced to hand over the cash to gang masters each evening. And if they don’t hit their “targets”, they are beaten and tortured.
Remember the scene in the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog
Millionaire in which a child is kidnapped and blinded in order to increase sympathy from the public and bring money to gangs.
At least in India, the authorities are working hard to stamp out begging. Begging is a crime in many Indian cities. Kids are removed from the streets to safe havens.
Over the past 30 years, I have noticed a radical reduction in the number of beggars in Indian cities.
It is almost two years since eThekwini Municipality announced it was to enforce the “Nuisances and Behaviour in Public Places” by-law aimed at putting a stop to begging, urinating in public and littering. While City Hall prevaricates, the number of beggars in the city is increasing and has spawned in the suburbs.
Meanwhile, I have developed a hardened attitude towards beggars. On holidays in India, I would be constantly under assault from agonised human beings: starving mothers, lepers, malnourished and deformed babies, ragged children with fly-infested eyes and even scrawny dogs.
I chose to become numbed. I brushed aside anyone who tugged at me with pitiful eyes. I refused to make eye contact with beggars on the streets.
In Durban, I have mastered the “dismissal” technique at traffic lights, especially at the intersection of Musgrave Road and the N3.
I discreetly check that the central locking button is engaged while looking straight ahead. I break all eye contact with the figure outside my car window.
No amount of genuflecting and joining of the palms makes me shift my distant gaze. Then with a wobble of the head and a wave of the hand, I indicate I have nothing to give. By this time, the message drives home: this is a tough dude.
The hardest part about ignoring all beggars is that among them are some who are genuine victims of a paucity of livelihood options. I know being told that you can’t have money is disappointing, but being treated like you’re not worth the time to look at is hurtful.
However, there is no way of distinguishing between the scammers who are actually extorting and those who are really begging.
When I am on holiday, I will not give even one rupee to a beggar and have instead made a habit of contributing to a bona fide children’s fund before departing.
Back home, I atone for my indifferent attitude towards beggars by putting in extra effort to take care of a couple of octogenarians, paying them regular social visits and fetching their medication.
People will always have different views on begging.
Offering money to somebody on the street can be a quick and easy way to make yourself feel like you’ve made a positive difference in someone’s life.
But it is unlikely to bring lasting change.
Giving money to a charity doesn’t offer the same immediate gratification, but provides sustained support for those who most need help.