Daily struggle to earn a living in SA

IN A CORNER of his mother's backyard, 30-year-old Thabang Moshoke runs a clipper through a client's hair at a makeshift barbershop.

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A queue of men and boys wait their turn for a R60 trim from this self-taught barber, who defied South Africa's massive unemployment rate to create his own job.

Moshoke turned his schoolboy hobby of hairstyling into a career when he became among the 32% who are out of work a rate that rises to 45% for the 15-34 age group.

He lost his last job, as a petrol attendant, during the pandemic. "Covid-19 sparked the realisation that I could turn this whole thing into a career, and I've been moving forward ever since," said Moshoke.

Now he works six days a week, from 8am to 6pm, making around R5000 rand a month.

"This is not an easy job," he said, his reddened eyes revealing deep fatigue. But, "we have hands and at the end of the day, you go to sleep with a full tummy".