By Buziwe Nocuze
- The Cape Town taxi driver earns R1,300 a week but says the money is gone before he pays his bills.
- The taxi driver washes cars after his shift, charges R100 to R120 per wash and saves through a weekly stokvel.
A 40-year-old Cape Town taxi driver started a carwash business on the side to help cover his bills.
“I am earning R1,300 a week, that money doesn’t cover my bills because it makes a total of R5,200 a month. I am a breadwinner assisting my younger sister who is in college,” he said.
His salary runs out before he can pay for groceries for himself, his family and his sister. To earn extra money, he started washing cars at the taxi rank.
The driver wakes up at around 04:30 and queues to be among the first at the rank. After the morning rush ends at about 09:00, he starts washing cars.
“Waking up early is good because you get to be first in the queue or with the first five vehicles. I get busy until 09:00, then after that it gets quiet; that’s when I start washing cars,” he said.
He charges between R100 and R120 per car and washes no more than five a day to avoid getting too tired before returning to the road. He gives himself 30 minutes’ rest in between.
His first customers were fellow taxi drivers. Residents later also started bringing their cars to him.
To cut costs, the driver moved from a flat he rented for R1,000 a month to a shack where he pays R500. He also stopped eating at the taxi rank and now carries lunch to work.
He joined a weekly stokvel where he contributes R500. He used some of the money for his sister’s college registration and to buy clothes for his daughter.
“My family doesn’t get to eat a lot of things during the year, so I am saving the money so that during that time they get to experience those things even though it is for a month,” he said.
Pictured above: A taxi.
Image source: File
