Mlungisi Jim was unemployed and staying alone when the mother of his two children dumped their kids with him.
The 57-year-old single father from Lower Crossroads in Cape Town realised he’d have to look for ways to bring in money to feed his family.
He started collecting bottles and cans around his township and selling them to a recycling company.
“No one was going to give me food every day for my children, who are ten and six. As their father, I am responsible for taking care of them,” Jim said.
“Collecting empty bottles and selling them to recycling companies is what puts food on the table for my family, and I am not ashamed of that. Even people around me know what I do for a living.”
On a daily basis, Jim wakes up at 5am to prepare his children for school and walks them there. Then he starts looking for cans and bottles.
Depending on how many bottles he collects per week, he can make up to R1,000 if he collects 1,100kg.
Jim says he wants to find the mother of his children; the last time he saw her was when she dropped the kids off three years ago.
“I have tried looking for her, but with no luck. It seems that she vanished into thin air,” he said.
He suspects that the mother is still getting the kids’ social grant. “I cannot do anything because I don’t have their birth certificates. Their mother took them with her. I am not getting a social grant, and I believe it will make a huge difference.”
A Scrolla.Africa journalist contacted Sassa to check if they could assist Jim, and their spokesperson Shivani Wahab responded: “We can assist him in getting the social grant for his kids. The only thing we want from him is an affidavit from SAPS stating that he has been living with the kids and doesn’t know where the mother is.”
Pictured above: Mlungisi Jim walks around the township collecting empty bottles for the recycling company
Image credit: Buziwe Nocuze
