Project gives car guards hope
“This is very nice – everything is changing now,” said Patricia Mtuse. The Vukani, Makhanda, resident gets up early every day to make her way to the Checkers parking lot in Makhanda by 8am.
The tips she receives from working as a car guard there are her only source of income, apart from grant funding.
What’s made the difference for her is an initiative to bring what is a marginalised, and sometimes actively rejected, group of entrepreneurs into the mainstream.
Supported by community members, Abakhuseli – the protectors – have colourful bibs with their names printed on them, and a website for people to find out what they stand for.
The website states: “Abakhuseli is a Makhandabased life skills and development project developed by and with local car guards and facilitators, increasingly supported by community partners. We stand together for peace and protection.
“[It is a] project born out of SA’s initial 2020 lockdown.
“The group consists primarily of local members of society working as car guards, growing themselves through self-determination and trust, supported by various facilitators and community partners.
“The Abakhuseli project operates a life-skills programme working towards empowerment and integration, instilling selfawareness, dignity and agency in each member.
“The project aims to formalise into an NPO in 2022, enabling more opportunities for personal growth, skills training, and career development.
“Through this, we hope to grow our partnerships and expand our programmes to further enrich the lives of each member.”
The organisation was officially launched with a colourful parade through the Makhanda CBD on Saturday May 14.
Mtuse said: “We know that many of our customers use cards. We know that.
“But we ask, if you are going into the shop, please just come back with something small for us – maybe cooking oil, or bread – something we can take home at the end of the day.
“We do protect your cars from tsotsis – they come and try to take your [decals] or your wheel covers and we stop them,” she said.
“We also make it safer for you when you get in and out of your car, because we’re there looking out for you.”