GOGO Madlalwiseni Tsoka said she doesn’t wait for a grant to feed herself, but makes her own money.
The 78-year-old from Kosovo in Samora Machel, Cape Town, goes around the kasi three times a week to collect rubbish for recycling.
“I get an average of R45 a day from picking up rubbish to sell.
“Mondays are the best, especially near taverns, as I get a lot of bottles and cans.
“It’s better than sitting at home, doing nothing,” she said.
The gogo said she picked up everything from beer bottles to cardboard, which she sold to a recycling company in Heinz Park.
She said she was grateful for something to buy bread.
“I started when former president Thabo Mbeki said people must start their own businesses.
“I don’t use my grant money for food,” she said.
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The gogo said she used to go to areas outside her kasi to pick up rubbish, but she’s now too old to travel that far now.
“I cannot walk far any more, so I pick up around here,” she said.
The gogo said she usually went out with colleagues Richard Frans (56) and Caroline Galaza (51), and they had been collecting rubbish together since 2003.
“If we don’t do this, there’s no bread on our tables,” said Frans.
Frans and Caroline said they went as far Strandfontein, about 5km from their kasi, to pick up cans and cardboard.
They said they woke up before the rubbish trucks arrived to empty bins.
“The trick is to wake up in the morning and by midday, we are pushing the trolleys back to sell our goods,” said Caroline.
They said they were contributing to keeping Mzansi clean.
“There isn’t much money in this business. I get about R90 a day, but it’s better than nothing,” said Frans.
