Meet one of the men who keeps your vehicle safe at your favourite supermarket
Congolese national Joseph Bimenyimana keeps smiling through the hard times.
Fighting for scraps in what was once the land of opportunity.
A uniquely South African phenomenon, they are neither valet nor traffic warden. In every parking lot of any small to medium sized shopping centre there will be several men assisting to alleviate congestion or being a partial deterrent to thieves. One such man is Joseph Bimenyimana who serves as a car guard at a shopping centre near Hendrik Potgieter Road.
The 34-year-old Congolese national came to South Africa in his early 20s fleeing civil unrest and searching for a better life. In the country on an Asylum Seekers visa, Joseph lives in Bertrams near the Johannesburg CBD. He begins work at around 7:30 where he and his colleagues clear the parking of litter before he waits to greet shoppers with a smile and wait for their return.
Joseph must pay R35 per day for the pleasure of directing traffic in the parking lot five days a week. He breaks even and then some depending on the generosity of patrons but the change in his pocket needs to be safely guarded. Getting to and from his place of work can be dangerous as he claims he and his colleagues are unable to keep smart phones as they are repeatedly robbed by people while in transit.
The husband and father of three children, two of which were born in South Africa, speaks English, French, Portugese and his native tongue spoken in the areas around his home town of Lubumbashi. Joseph’s wife, who brought their first son with them to South Africa can speak French too but now prefers to converse in English as well as Zulu. His wife’s employement is sporadic and he highlights the importance of every silver coin he receives, saying,
“If I am not standing there my kids do not get bread”.
Joseph keeps his smile despite he and his colleagues not loving their jobs. He relays how many have tried being a car guard but have chosen to stay at home and earn nothing rather than sacrifice for minimal gains. Looking for any opportunity he could grab with both hands, ‘Captain’, as Joseph is known says the hardest part of his job is not the heat or the standing, but having enough time to assist every person that flows through his open air office.
