By Palesa Matlala
• Sixty two year old Gogo Dlamini runs an after care centre for Grade one to four learners from her home, charging R300 per child to survive.
• She also tutors struggling pupils at a Soweto school on Fridays, earning R2,000 a month after failing to secure formal teaching work.
Gogo Dlamini has turned her teaching skills into a way to survive.
The 62 year old is a retired school teacher from Swaziland.
After struggling to get approved for the elderly monthly grant, she was left with no income.
She decided to open an after care centre from her home.
Primary school learners from Grade one to four attend the programme.
They come to her house after school for help with reading, numeracy and homework.
Each child pays R300 per month.
Since June 2025, she has had nine learners under her care.
“After school my learners get dropped off here. They have their snacks and at 3pm we start with school work,” said Dlamini.
In 2024, she approached several schools in Soweto looking for teaching related work.
She was not successful.
In October 2025, she received a call from a school principal.
He asked her to tutor learners from his school.
“These are children who are battling to comprehend English, Maths and Accounting. I tutor them at school on Friday afternoon,” she said.
The school pays her R2,000 per month.
She plans to add more subjects in the future.
Dlamini said she used her free time to study new subjects on her own.
She collected Grade eight Physical Science and Geography learner books.
“These are subjects I want to tutor,” she said.
After several failed attempts to access a South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) grant, she gave up.
She said the work she now does pays slightly more than the elderly grant.
“Maybe I was not meant to get the grant, but I used my education and skills to earn a living,” she said.
Pictured above: Senior certificate
Image source: Supplied
