From hard luck to hard work

TAKING INITIATIVE: UNEMPLOYED YOUTHS TURN HOBBIES INTO BUSINESSES TO MAKE A LIVING

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In a corner of his mother's backyard, 30-year-old Thabang Moshoke runs a clipper through a client's hair at a makeshift barber shop that has only a rough roof to shield it from the skies.

A queue of men and boys wait their turn for a R60 trim from this self-taught barber, who defied the massive unemployment rate and created his own job.

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

He lost his last job, as a petrol attendant, during the pandemic several years ago. "Covid 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 R5 000 a month, an amount on par with the official minimum wage.

"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 have to sleep with a full tummy".