Parmasivan Naidoo at the Phoenix Plaza mall.
Image: Leon Lestrade
AS UNEMPLOYMENT rises in Durban, more people are turning to begging at street corners and traffic lights.
The POST spoke to three individuals from Phoenix, Overport and Chatsworth who shared their heart-wrenching journeys from stable employment to daily struggles for survival on the streets, revealing the human faces behind a growing social crisis.
Parmasivan Naidoo, 50 of Woodview has been begging on the streets of Phoenix for 10 years. Daily he makes his way through the area, hoping to get a few rands to buy food for the day.
“I beg at the Phoenix Plaza hoping to get a little money just to fill my stomach. I often get chased away. So when I see the security coming towards me, I quickly hide behind the cars.
“They don’t allow me to step foot in the mall. If I do, then I’m removed. I wasn’t always in the state that I am in now. At one stage in my life I used to work,” said Naidoo.
Naidoo has a son, who begs in another area. His wife passed away last year.
“We have been struggling for 18 years but we always tried to make it work. I used to work in an engineering company for many years but 10 years ago, I was retrenched. The company told me that I was too ‘weak’ at my job. They took advantage of me and then threw me away,” he said.
“That’s when we started begging. My son and I are always looking for jobs. But people only see us only as beggars and think we are on drugs,” he said.
He said that on most days he received no money or food and they went home empty handed.
“Once we get chased from an area, we try another. But we are not always lucky. No-one likes to help. There are some good people out there but most of them turn away when they see me.
“I just want to have food and a warm place to sleep, we mean no harm. It’s just that I have fallen on hard times and can’t get going. It’s a hard life but no-one understands,” said Naidoo.
Ifthikar Singh, 43, from Chatsworth was a truck driver before his company let him go. His family tries to help him when they can.
“My dad abandoned us when I was 5-years-old. It was my mum, sister and I. I grew up in a normal home and was a good pupil at school but life has never worked out for me.
“I got married when I was 18-years-old and I have a daughter. She is now 25-years-old. My wife left me when I was 21 and I have not seen my daughter since,” said Singh.
He lives in Unit 7 and has been begging since 2021 after he was retrenched in 2020.
He begs daily from 6:30 am to 4:30 pm, walking sometimes from Chatsworth to Overport in the hope of getting some money for food.
“I lived with my mum but we had some family issues and our home was taken away from us. My mum moved to Johannesburg to live with my sister and I was forced to beg for food and lodging.
“My sister helps me when she can but they always fear that if they gave me money, I would turn to drugs. I haven’t seen my family since 2021. I just want to be with them,” said Singh.
He said he was retrenched after an accident which left him with broken legs, hands, ribs and a cracked skull.
“This was not my plan in life. I always had jobs. I was married and had a family but suddenly everything changed. Now I find myself begging and only making R100 to R200 a day while on some days I make nothing and go hungry.
“My family said if I could buy a plane ticket to Johannesburg, I could stay with them. But getting the money for the ticket is difficult. I'm tired. My life is so hard,” said Singh.
Ifthikar Singh outside Chatsworth Centre mall.
Image: Leon Lestrade
Clinton Moses, 41, begs at the Overport traffic lights and then when it’s time to sleep, he makes a bed at the same street corner.
“I have been on the streets since my mum died. I have no siblings and or extended family members. This is my life. I don’t even pray to God anymore because nothing seems to work for me.
“I beg every single day without taking a day off. If I take a day off, I will go hungry. Sometimes I don’t get much and go hungry for four days at a time. People look at me and think I am not trying to better my life. But I am. I just have not had any opportunities like getting a job,” said Moses.
He said that people did not want to give him a chance.
“I don’t only beg for food or money. I also beg for a job. I can even be a gardener or anything … but people refuse me. They think I will steal. But I will never steal from the hand that feeds me. I just need an income.
“Today even though it is raining, I will sleep on the street until we are woken up by police and chased away. I’m just trying to live but nobody sees that. I don’t want to live like this anymore. I want to be in a warm house with a family and hot food. But I’m not so lucky,” said Moses.
Clinton Moses at the Overport traffic lights.
Image: Leon Lestrade
POST reporter Monishka Govender noted that everytime she spoke to a beggar, they were interrupted by law enforcement officials.
“The officers would reprimand the beggars and chase them away. The beggars said that this was their daily reality,” said Govender.
Durban Metro Police spokesperson, Colonel Boysie Zungu said their officers did their job and followed the law.
“Begging is against city bylaws. When we see them at an intersection, we remove them. There is no help to give them except to inform them that they are not allowed to be there,” said Zungu.
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