By Buziwe Nocuze
- Nomsa Mhlifili from Marikana earns R6,000 a month but spends R7,913, leaving her R753 short every single month.
- She joined a stokvel to save for a trip home to the Eastern Cape, where she has not been since 2022.
Nomsa Mhlifili does everything right. She works. She budgets. She sends money home. She is still R753 short by the end of every month.
The 26-year-old promotes bread in Mitchell’s Plain and earns R6,000 a month. She gets two child support grants on top of that, R580 each. Her total comes to R7,160.
Her bills come to R7,913.
She is R753 short. Every single month. Before anything goes wrong.
Nomsa lives in Marikana informal settlement in Cape Town. She is raising two children alone. The father is not involved.
Her biggest costs are groceries at R2,500, a nanny at R1,200 and transport at R1,000. She pays R287 for baby milk, R280 for a funeral policy, R125 for paraffin and R69 for data. She also sends R300 a month to her sister in the Eastern Cape, who has no income. Her stokvel contribution costs her R800 a month.
When her baby runs out of milk, she borrows from whatever she has managed to put aside. Saving on her own never lasted.
“I would withdraw the money,” she said.
“I then decided to join a stokvel because I know that I won’t be able to take the money. I will wait for my turn.”
The stokvel works because she cannot touch it freely. It is the only thing standing between her and nothing.
Now she wants the bank to hold her money until November. She is saving for a bus ticket home.
“I last went home to the Eastern Cape in 2022,” she said.
“I want the bank to give me the money in November so that I won’t have to stress about going home.”
Three years. She has not been back in three years.
Pictured above: Nomsa Mhlifili, a bread promoter from Marikana informal settlement, is raising two children alone in Cape Town on R7,160 a month.
Image source: Supplied
