David Kutama from Maebane, in the Kutama area, has no time to stop and complain about unemployment and poverty. He wakes up early every morning and heads to the taxi rank in the centre of Louis Trichardt, where he spends his time cleaning the public toilets. Although many other people might turn up their noses at such a job, he earns himself a useful income daily.
David, who is married with a four-year-old child, has been doing this since 2003. "I charge every person R3 to use the public toilet. The reason why I charge them money is that I am the one who mops and cleans the toilet every day," he said.
David used to work as a hawker at the taxi rank before he started cleaning toilets. "I think it is good to tell volunteers who want to clean toilets that I pocket more than R300 per day. I told myself it is better to make money from doing things that people can see than it is to steal someone's property. Cleaning toilets changed my life for the better. I can put food on the table and feed my children now. At first, I was very ashamed and didn't want people I know to see me doing this job. I used to hide whenever I saw someone I know, but today I'm very proud of my job. I am a self-employed person, working from 07:00 to 18:00. I will never go out to look for another job. I am satisfied," he said.
Tshikhume Malima, one of the taxi drivers at the taxi rank, said that before David took over the toilet-cleaning duties, for civilised people to use them was difficult as they were always messy. "David is a big man who cares for the public," he said.
One of the hawkers at the taxi rank, Michael Phathela, said David was doing a great job. "He is doing something good for the public. In the past, municipal workers used to clean them, but after a few minutes, the toilets were a mess again."