Searching for Santas with a jolly ho ho ho

SHOPPING malls across South Africa are hunting for elderly gentlemen with long white beards and a red suit to keep Father Christmas alive in the minds and hearts of the young.

Gumtree has ads for between 30 and 50 Santa Clauses, two elves and 24 reindeer on its website. One advertisement reads: “We need a real bearded Santa Claus. Preferably an elderly gentleman with a real grey/ white beard. He needs to be good with kids as he will be posing with them in photographs.”

Gumtree’s head of communications for PR and social media, Estelle Nagel, said the ads receive much attention with an average of 100 views and between 20 and 40 replies per advertisement.

“It’s probably the only job, among the hundreds of thousands advertised on the site, that requires you to be jolly or sometimes prescribes the size of your waistline, or can demand particular facial hair,” said Nagel.

Santas are usually employed by large shopping malls, but there are also requests from Christmas markets, charities and hospitals as well as the hosts of private parties and even corporate functions.

The standard Santa Claus job description on Gumtree includes listening to Christmas wishes, chatting to shoppers about promotions and posing for photos with children.

According to Nagel the job is not all smiles as Santas usually have to work long hours in a hot suit for two weeks straight, including holidays.

The jolly, round- at- the- waist mature gentlemen earn between R250-R500 a day.

PICTURE: BHEKI RADEBE/AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY/ANA Whale Christmas light outside Cape Town International Airport.

PICTURE: NOKUTHULA MBATHA Many Father Christmas jobs are advertised on Gumtree.