Zulu lessons on the run

Zulu-language teacher Moses Vilaphi starts his job before most of us have finished our first cup of coffee of the day.

He does not drive to the office but spends quite a lot of time in the traffic.

The 25-year-old from Soweto does not have a teaching qualification - but he teaches his mother tongue to motorists along Johannesburg's busy Empire Road for a small fee or food, one word at a time.

Yesterday he carried his billboard, which is almost a metre wide, displaying the two words of the day: bird: inyoni and rabbit: unogwaja.

The soft-spoken Vilaphi said that on a good day he could make up to R200 but yesterday and Monday were "dry" because "people are broke right now".

His lessons run from 7am until 10am, and during the busy lunchtime period. He targets customers visiting the trendy 44 Stanley shopping complex. Not far from there, his makeshift bed is under a bridge.

"I started out doing jokes in English but I realised that when white people pronounce things in Zulu they're generally way off," Vilaphi said.

"So I came up with this idea, because there are a few other guys doing this at traffic stops. Yes, [it is fulfilling] I love it."

Vilaphi said he failed matric in 2010 at Morris Isaacson Secondary School, Soweto, after "getting into weed and alcohol and stuff", and eventually dropped out.

He plans to return home to Soweto "before winter comes".

"[My family] want me to go back to school and they keep telling me: 'You can't just sit around; get a job.'

"But I'm not ready for that because I know that, any job I get, I will just be a disposable worker."