08 May 2020 1 Min Read
WATCH | Jobless and stranded in SA: Lesotho informal workers left in limbo during lockdown
The video could not be loaded.
Loading ...
Informal part-time work is the bread and butter of many foreign migrant workers. They travel to SA to look for jobs, work for a few months and head back home with some money for themselves and their families.
A group of men from Lesotho who came to SA for that reason are now stranded in the country for much longer than they expected because of the lockdown.
Loading ...
- Gauta Makhethe is cooking, while Lekomola Lekomola,Tshoana Mahanetsa and Thethana Letuka keep throwing a joke now and then. This are some of the men who lives on the road side in Midrand.
- From left: Sepeane Masehle,Thethane Letuk, Lekomola Lekomola and Poulo Lashe. These are some of the men who live on the roadside of the K101 South in Midrand. They are unable to work during the lockdown as they rely on odd jobs to survive and send money home.
- Sello Sekoane stays on the roadside in Midrand, along the K101, in a makeshift plastic shack that he made to sleep in. He wonders the streets of the city looking for odd-jobs but says he is struggling suring the lockdown. “Now it is bad we are struggling to even have food and wash our clothes. The lockdown has left us without a way of making money,” he says.
- Refiloe Fako, from Lesotho, is stranded in South Africa during the lockdown as the country fights the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Refiloe Faku, from Lesotho, is in Gauteng to find a job but can't due to the lockdown. He lives on the roadside in Midrand.
- Pheta Mahanetsa holds a face mask while sitting on some grass as the sun sets in Midrand. He is among a group of men who live on the roadside in Midrand.
- Gauta Makhethe cooks dinner as the sun sets in Midrand. He is among a group of men who live on the roadside in Midrand.
- Gauta Makhethe in his makeshift structure that he calls home when he is in South Africa. He is among a group of men who live on the roadside in Midrand.
- Poulo Lashe in his makeshift structure that he calls home when he is in South Africa. He is among a group of men who live on the roadside in Midrand.
- Kgomoetso Sekoane seen on the roadside in Midrand where he stays as he can not afford to pay rent in the nearby townships. He says that the lockdown has taken bread off his table as he struggles for food and other necessities. He hopes a good samaritan may donate food for them during the lockdown.
- The Lesotho nationals who live on the side of a road in Midrand are playing a game as they have nothing else to do during the lockdown.
- A group of Lesotho nationals that live of the roadside of the K101 road in Midrand have got no choice but to face the realities of the lockdown as they struggle to feed themselves. They try to kill time by playing one an indigenous game under the trees that shelter them.
- A group of Lesotho nationals that live of the roadside of the K101 road in Midrand have got no choice but to face the realities of the lockdown as they struggle to feed themselves. They try to kill time by playing one an indigenous game under the trees that shelter them.
The men have created a home for themselves in a section of bush next to the highway in Midrand. They now spend their days playing games and hoping that kind-hearted people will offer them food.
The men usually earn very little, but being unable to work during the lockdown, they now have nothing. They said that even if they were allowed to go back to Lesotho they wouldn’t be able to because they have no money.