Ndwakhulu Tshikovhi from Ngovhela Tshirembe says he disagrees with people who accuse foreigners of stealing job opportunities from South Africans. He believes that one of the main reasons why so many of the local youths today are not working is because they are plain lazy, hanging around the village and drinking beer.
Tshikovhi earns his living by repairing broken cellphones from his makeshift tent in the Thohoyandou CBD. "After I started working here, I asked three guys to help me. I taught them how to fix phones myself. Three or four months later they left. They now do nothing but sit around, drinking traditional beer. I caught up with them one day and asked them why they are not coming to work anymore and they said they are tired of getting up so early every day to come to work," he said, shaking his head.
Asked whether he had gone to school to learn how to fix cellphones, he said that he had not. Apparently, he was taught by a Chinese guy who had a shop that sold cellphone parts and fixed broken phones.
"The problem with most of our own brothers and sisters is that they are too lazy to work. Now they want the foreigners to leave, but if that happens, will our brothers walk from house to house and around townships in the blazing sun to sell their fruit and vegetables?" he asked.