{"id":44561,"date":"2023-02-14T20:14:26","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T20:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-cape-town-waste-collector"},"modified":"2023-02-14T20:42:50","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T20:42:50","slug":"a-day-in-the-life-of-a-cape-town-waste-collector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-cape-town-waste-collector","title":{"rendered":"A day in the life of a Cape Town waste collector"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>This is Avuyile Masekwane\u2019s last month as a refuse collector in Mfuleni, Cape Town. Though the work is difficult and demanding, she will be sorry when her 12-month contract ends at the end of February.<\/p>\n

Masekwane, 27, works for the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), collecting rubbish, five days a week, from 08:30 to 15:30. She earns R27 an hour.<\/p>\n

She gets up at 06:00. At 07:30 she wakes up her 4-year-old son, Sinokuhle, and washes him with water in a bucket she filled the night before from the communal tap. \u201cBy 08:00 I take him to school so he can still get the porridge served warm.\u201d<\/p>\n

By 08:15 Masekwane is at work, collecting and sorting rubbish and throwing it in one of the green containers the City of Cape Town provides.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople scatter the rubbish all over the place, that\u2019s when we come in, and organise it in order,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Masekwane is used to seeing dirty nappies, human excrement, and condoms. And lots of beer bottles. She and her colleagues separate what can be recycled, mainly glass.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hot and tiring work, especially in the summer. \u201cWe are on our feet all day.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are communal taps to drink from and wash her hands, and at midday she takes a break.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I have a lunch box I eat at work, other days I go home and prepare something to eat,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

At 16:00 she fetches Sinokuhle from school. At home she rests for half an hour then it\u2019s the evening routine of fetching water, washing, cooking and settling her son in bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes me happy about my job is that we all know each other because we\u2019re from the same community,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd the best part is we don\u2019t have to pay for traveling to get to the workplace. And the community is showing love and support for the work we do cleaning up our environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The job needs patience, she says, and understanding of other people.<\/p>\n

Masekwane will be sorry to stop work, but she says it\u2019s right that other people on the EPWP database should have a chance. \u201cThey also need to earn an income,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

As for her, she\u2019ll be out looking for another job.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. This is Avuyile Masekwane\u2019s last month as a refuse collector in Mfuleni, Cape Town. Though the work is difficult and demanding, she will be sorry when her 12-month contract ends at the end of February. Masekwane, 27, works for the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), collecting rubbish, five days a week, from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":44560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[274,315,279,500,275,295],"class_list":["post-44561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-cape-town","tag-service-delivery","tag-south-africa-2","tag-western-cape"],"yoast_head":"\nA day in the life of a Cape Town waste collector - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is Avuyile Masekwane\u2019s last month as a refuse collector in Mfuleni, Cape Town. 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