Voice of Joburg: Friends or foes
JOHANNESBURG – Find out what friends do in the city.
Our next Voice of Joburg was found at the Neighbourgoods Night Market and there was no containing his glee.
City Buzz found Joseph Mkhumbula enjoying a cigarette in Braamfontein near the monthly Neighbourgoods Night Market on 7 April.
“Take a picture of me,” Mkhumbula said.
“Only if you have an interesting story to tell us,” City Buzz responded.
After a drag on his fag and a moment of thought, he began to tell a story that took place in Durban.
After listening to the short story we asked the man if anything interesting had happened to him in the city.
“Yes. I live here so there’s always things happening. The city is a good place to be. Everybody thinks that this place is bad because of crime, but it’s nice for the people who live here because nothing bad will happen to us,” he said.
Having inquired why he felt nothing bad would happen to the residents in the area, the man responded, “The people here know us and we all know each other. If he can do something bad to me, my other friends will tell me.”
Wondering if anything bad had ever happened to him in the city, City Buzz asked, “You’ve never been mugged, assaulted or anything?”
“I got beat up a few times,” he started.
“Sometimes I get into fights at a tavern because you know when you get drunk you act funny and different.” he said.
“The people who beat you up at the taverns, are they not your friends,” City Buzz asked.
“Yes they are my friends. My friends are the ones who teach me a lesson to not be stupid when I drink and not drink too much. It’s not a good thing.”
Hearing of such occurrences in the city and considering that they seem quite common, City Buzz feels that with friends like those, enemies are not needed.
Read: Voice of Joburg:Singin’ in the rain
