Joburg, a place littered with cons

If only everything we read was true… I have always had a little chuckle to myself when I read some of the illegal advertisements in and around Joburg – and have always wondered if anyone truly buys into the garbage written on some of the posters.

We have people claiming they can enlarge body parts, trick people into loving you, and some who go as far as to say they can actually bring back the dead. The last person I heard of who was said to be able to bring back the dead, lived 2000 years ago, however it would seem we have a few would-be profits in our midst.

In Joburg, we are bombarded with people who are out to con us. We hear sob stories on the side of the road from men and women begging for money – some of which are lies. We are fast becoming a community who has to second guess everything to separate the truth from the untruth.

I love driving down the road and seeing posters that have had ‘no’ or ‘illegal’ written on them – it gives me hope that some residents are actively trying to make a difference and I am not the only one who is fed up with these signs. What bothers me though is, these guys, the ones who plaster these posters on our streets, must have some reason to do it. The amount of money and time spent printing and putting up these posters must be worth their while, which leads me to believe they are actually getting customers from their advertising.

It is also frustrating to note that no sooner have these posters been removed by community members, ward councillors or the Metro police, that new ones have been put up. It seems we are in this never ending cycle and no matter how hard we try, we will always be bombarded with this garbage.

I don’t doubt for a second that there are traditional healers out there who can heal and council, but I do not believe these are the same traditional healers who illegally advertise their businesses and lie to the public.