Ben’s story
BEN comes from the Mtata, one of the coastal cities of the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. He worked as a miner in a gold mine where he remained employed for 13 years until he was retired after he contracted tuberculosis(TB). He was retired on medical grounds in 1980 and went to his village . Then effects of TB became serious but he had no money for medication. Doctors advised him to claim his severance package so he could use it to buy medication. That’s when his real problems started in Ernest. With no money he had to go to Johannesburg nearly 1000 kilometres away to Johannesburg, leaving behind his wife and three children without any means of survival. He started the long trek relying mainly on good Samaritans for free rides which were few and far between.
Ben arrived in Johannesburg with no support system.He like several thousands of people in his situation of being jobless found the only way to survive was to wander in car parking lots to beg for money. This generosity from motorists and shoppers sometimes worked but often it did not . When it worked he would collect a few cents but when he got lucky some sympatheic person would offer him some odd job to clean or paint houses for which he could get R50 ($7) or a little more. On hard day the most he would make was R5 (under one dollar) which he would use to buy offal to feed his family. He spends most of the wandering about the parking lots -his favorite being Flora Centre, a shopping complex in the up-market suburb of Florida. His other point of call for sustenance is rubbish bins where he has to scavenge for what shoppers or diners may throw away. For Ben it is a case of one man’s left over in a rubbish bin is his feast.
When approached for an interview first he looked uneasy - a condition the situation has placed him in. Even striking a simple conversation made him jittery and unwilling but with a lot of coaxing and reassuring that it was to accord him a chance to tell his story so that there could be understanding by all and sundry who could help he opened his space. After explaining the nature of our mission he opened a floodgate to the gory and heart lending details of the suffering that he and many thousands like him who have fallen into the cracks endure everyday.
Ben’s accounts exposure flows as follows. His work environment as is of those he worked with or still work there exposes them to harmful dust deep down in the mine shafts gave rise to a variety of ailments, which later forced him to take early retirement. His health has been deteriorating over the years but he managed to pull through in spite of extreme poverty. Last year (2006) he was diagnosed with TB and had difficulty paying for his treatment. A doctor at Mtata advised him to come up to his former employers in Johannesburg to so that he could lodge a claim for his illness. Because of poverty, he had to hitch his way to the big city situated over 800 kilometers away. He literally spent seven days trying to reach Johannesburg.
After arriving in Johannesburg Ben went straight to TEBA, an office responsible for the hiring of mine workers and all their issues there of. He was told to return after five months because the office could only attend to 2050 people a month, which means the list was very long. He said there was no way he could return home without the money, so in the meantime, he had to make ends meet on the streets and shopping malls through begging and scavenging, but his wish was to find a job.
This year, South Africa has experienced the coldest winter characterized by snowfalls and strong winds. Ben said he survived the cold by God’s grace. Later, devout Christian widow offered him her carport to use at night. He also said the woman gives him something in the mornings and before he goes to sleep. The house is not very far from the Flora Centre. Ben has had three children before the eldest died. He said none of them is employed and all, including his wife, are looking up to him for financial support, which is another reason why he could not return home without his money.
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