By Palesa Matlala
- Kgabo Molwele, 35, switched from taxi to train after petrol price hikes pushed her monthly transport costs beyond what she could manage.
- Molwele was diagnosed with depression in early 2025 and gets her medication from a public clinic, saying rising costs are driving her to breaking point.
Kgabo Molwele has a job. She gets up before sunrise, catches the 5:30am train from her home to Johannesburg Park Station, and manages a team at a retail store. By most official measures, she is one of the fortunate ones.
She is also on depression medication, collecting waste food from her workplace to grow vegetables, and says she is barely keeping her head above water.
Molwele, 35, used to take a taxi to work. It was safer and more convenient. But after petrol prices rose twice, the cost became impossible to absorb. She paid R16 per trip to Faraday Taxi Rank, then a connecting R13 taxi to Kenilworth. Now she pays R150 for a monthly Metrorail ticket.
The saving comes with a cost of its own. Walking to the station in the dark, she said, puts her life at risk every morning.
She keeps R300 aside each month for taxis as backup, in case the train is delayed and she cannot afford to be late.
The pressure has changed the shape of her family’s life. Her daughter moved to a nearby public school. Molwele grows vegetables using food scraps she brings home from work. The changes have not been enough.
In early 2025 she was diagnosed with depression and put on medication. She gets it from a public clinic, so she does not pay for it. But the diagnosis itself tells the story.
“Who would not be depressed when petrol went up twice already and even the most basic goods are very expensive,” she said.
She is not looking for sympathy. She is describing something precise.
“I am working for transport and just to be counted among those who are employed,” Molwele said.
Pictured above: Kgabo Molwele, 35, catches the 5:30am Metrorail train to Johannesburg in the dark every morning to save on transport costs.
Image source: Supplied
