Lipstick and metal: Cape Town's Hoosain Dixon takes scrap to new heights

Bridgetown’s “Robot Man” sits at a little table outside his house, which is filled with pieces of scrap from a nearby dump site.

Near him is his latest creation, Robot 5 (R5), which took about two months to build.

Made from items like the straps from a child’s shoe, a piece of rubber, an empty lipstick container and bits of a car door, R5 stands tall and has lights in its eyes and chest.

Using his hands to build things has always been a passion for 49-year-old Hoosain Dixon.

“I have been good with my hands since I was a young boy of eight. I would fix old toys, and even put together old broken dolls. You see the field over there? That is where I get my scrap. Every single thing I used for the R5 I got at the dumping site. Even the 350 screws I used to put him together, I got at the dumping site,” says Dixon.

A father of three daughters, Dixon worked for 25 years in the hospitality industry, but was laid off. He says he is currently unemployed and builds robots to keep himself busy and make some money to support his family.

He says his dream would be to see his work at shows or exhibitions, and to be able to give his robots some sort of movement, in the arms, legs or the whole body.

“As you can see, I have connected wiring to this robot, which is why these tiny light bulbs work, but I am yet to connect something to make it move.”

Three or four times a week he pushes R5 in a trolley around Bridgetown, Athlone and sometimes as far as Mowbray. He says people come up to him and ask him about R5, but last year he was almost arrested while wheeling a robot in a wheelbarrow at night. Police thought he was transporting a dead body.

Sometimes he stands at shopping malls with the robot, where he charges people R5 or R10 to take photographs of themselves with it. So far, he has sold two robots.

“There is a lot of crime here in this area by youngsters who are unemployed. I want them to see that you can do things to keep yourself busy that do not involve crime,” says Dixon.

• This article was first published in GroundUp