By Buziwe Nocuze
- Zingisile Gcoda cares for 20 cows and 15 sheep every day and says the money helps him buy food and clothes for his family.
- He buys rice, maize meal, tins of food and chicken, and says electricity is kept low by cooking and heating with firewood.
Zingisile Gcoda from Hombe village in Lusikisiki wakes up at 6am every day to go and look after other people’s livestock.
He walks to the homes that have hired him to take care of their animals — and spends his day in the veld with 20 cows and 15 sheep.
The 45-year-old says his job helps him take care of his wife and two children. “With the money I earn, I can buy food for my family,” he said.
Sometimes the families he works for give him food in the morning. Sometimes they give it to him when he returns in the evening around 5pm or 6pm.
He said being a herdsman means he can afford to buy his children Christmas clothes — but only if they plan carefully. “I give my wife money for lay-bys. If we buy the clothes all at once, we won’t have money for food.”
The family survives by buying R25 bags of rice and maize meal, two 10 kg bags of samp mixed with beans, and tins of food. “For meat, we only buy chicken,” he said. “It’s the only thing we can afford right now. We also buy three tins of pilchards.”
Gcoda said people look down on herdsmen — but he is proud of his work. “Even if people don’t respect us, we feed our families and we don’t steal.”
He pays R200 a month for a funeral policy that covers his whole family. He also buys R100 of electricity a month. “We use the fire to cook and heat water. Electricity is just for lights.”
Local farmer Mavusi Gqola said most people in the area can no longer afford red meat. “Chicken is cheaper — but the price is also going up,” he said.
Gqola said farmers must spend between R6,000 and R7,000 a month to raise healthy chickens and produce good meat. “Chickens get flu and other diseases, so we need medicine and proper food to keep them healthy.”
Pictured above: Cattle in a veld.
Image source: Supplied.
