By Buziwe Nocuze
- Security guard Lungiswa Dakuse wakes up before 4am, sends R2,500 home each month and still can’t afford to buy clothes or enjoy her old hobbies.
- She says food prices keep rising while salaries stay the same, leaving families in the Eastern Cape struggling even to afford taxi trips for groceries.
Every morning at 3:40am, Cape Town security guard Lungiswa Dakuse wakes up to get ready for work. By 4:50am, she is already rushing to the bus stop.
But even with all her effort, her salary doesn’t stretch far enough.
Dakuse sends R2,500 every month to her mother in the Eastern Cape, who looks after her child. “Even if my child wasn’t living with them, I would still send money for food,” she said.
After paying R1,500 for groceries, R1,000 for transport and R1,500 for rent, nothing is left for herself.
She used to send R1,500 home, but rising food prices forced her to increase that amount. “I had to stop going out with friends,” she said. “That money now goes to food.”
Still, it’s not enough. “From the R2,500 I send home, they spend R80 just travelling to town and back. They even pay taxi drivers to carry food from the market, depending on what they buy,” she said.
Dakuse says she once enjoyed doing her nails and wearing weaves, but those days are over.
“The sad part is that everything keeps going up while our salaries stay the same,” she said. “I don’t buy clothes often. I only buy for my child in November, and I choose bigger sizes so they last.”
She only visits home once a year.
“If things continue like this, most people won’t give out food during Christmas. They’ll only cook for their families,” she said. “The high cost of living is changing how we live.”
Pictured above: A weave.
Image source: Pexels
