Silenced by poverty: the reality of begging in Phoenix, Overport and Chatsworth

AS UNEMPLOYMENT rises in Durban, more people are turning to begging at street corners and traffic lights.

- MONISHKA GOVENDER

The POST spoke to three individuals from Phoenix, Overport and Chatsworth who shared their heart-wrenching journeys from humble employment to daily struggles for survival on the streets, revealing the human faces behind a provincial crisis.

Parmasivan Naidoo, 50, of Woodview, has been begging on the streets of Phoenix for 10 years.

He makes his way through the area daily, hoping to get a few rand to buy food for the day.

"I beg at the Phoenix Plaza, hoping to get a little money just to fill my stomach. I often get chased away. When I see the security coming towards me, I quickly hide behind the cars.

"They don't allow me to step foot in the mall. If I do, then I'm removed. I wasn't always in the state that I am in now. I used to work," said Naidoo.

He has a son, who begs in another area. His wife passed away last year.

"We have been struggling for 18 years, but we always tried to make it work. I worked in an engineering company for many years, but I was retrenched 10 years ago. The company told me I was too weak for the job. They took advantage of me and then threw me away," he said.

"That's when we started begging. My son and I are always looking for jobs. But people see us only as beggars and think we are on drugs," he said.

Naidoo said in most days he received begging since 2021. He was retrenched in 2020.

He begs daily from 6.30am to 4.30pm, walking sometimes from Chatsworth to Overport in the hope of getting some money for food.

"I lived with my mum but we had some family issues and our home was taken away from us.

"My mum moved to Johannesburg to live with my sister, and I was forced to beg for food and lodging.

"My sister helps me when she can but they also struggle. If they gave me money, I would turn to drugs."

Naidoo said since 2021, I just went to beg on the streets.