By Buziwe Nocuze
- The man walks from house to house offering to pour chemicals into full toilets so people can use them again.
- He charges R300 per household and says the money helps him buy food, pay insurance and support his family.
A 39-year-old man from the Eastern Cape has found a unique way to make a living — by cleaning and unblocking full toilets that others have abandoned.
He said he noticed that many people simply built new toilets when the old ones filled up. That gave him an idea.
“At first I didn’t want to do this kind of work. But when I saw how many full toilets had been left unused, I went around the village asking if people needed help,” he said.
It turned out that plenty of households were desperate for a solution.
He pours chemicals into the pits to dissolve the waste and make the toilets usable again. He usually works in the mornings and afternoons.
“Sometimes the smell is really bad after using the chemicals because they react with the waste. I also reopen sealed toilets that have been abandoned,” he said.
He admitted the job is tough and many people look down on it.
“Some say they would rather starve than do this job. But this is what feeds me, my girlfriend and our two kids,” he said.
He charges R300 for each toilet and says business is good because pits fill up quickly.
“I’m always busy. I can buy groceries and chicken that lasts us the whole month. I can even pay insurance for my family,” he said.
When people told him he was too young to do this kind of work, he told them he was doing it to survive, not for fun.
“I’ll keep doing this as long as I don’t have to ask for handouts,” he said.
Pictured above: a chemical toilet in use in a rural village
Image source: Supplied
