Iris and Gladys get off the taxi and walk to Gladys’s house. At the gate Iris takes Gladys’s hand and squeezes it.
“Good luck. Nomsa told me that there is a number you should call in order to know what is going on with your card. It is on the back of the EasyLoans card,” says Iris. Gladys fumbles in her bag for her card, and turns it over.
“I will get Noluthando to call when she gets home from school.”
“Nomsa used a lot of airtime when she called,” says Iris, “Labantu! Why can’t they make things easier. They have no respect for us older people.”
“Ngibonga kakhulu for your help, my friend,” says Gladys as they part.
Gladys is staring at the electricity meter. She puts on her glasses to make out the digits. They have nearly run out. It is freezing, and her joints are aching, but Gladys can’t put the heater on, fearing it will use the last of the electricity. Soon it will be dark and there will not be enough power to even cook supper.
The door bangs. Noluthando is back from school. The chilly wind follows her into the house.
“How was your paper today?” Gladys asks, as Noluthando swings her school bag down and switches on the TV.
“I wrote well, Gogo. How did you go?” She is busy flicking through the channels until she finds Skeem Saam.
“Not well at all. They said there is no money in my card.”
“Why?” Noluthando does not look up from the screen.
“I don’t know. It seems the money went to pay back loans. But I don’t understand why the loans take so much. I have been paying them back since forever. Look there is a number at the back of the card. I need you to call so I can find out what is happening.”
She gives Noluthando her cellphone and the EasyLoans card. Noluthando dials and waits, watching the TV. Gladys sits down and watches anxiously.
“Is the call going through? Is someone answering?”
“No, Gogo, it’s just a recording.” Noluthando follows the instructions and presses the number four digit, to speak to a consultant.
“Now what is happening?” asks Gladys.
Noluthando indicates for her to be quiet, because with her questions it is hard to hear.
“EasyLoans, how can I help you?” Noluthando turns down the TV sound. “How can I help you?”
Gladys sits forward in her chair.
“I want to ask–” begins Noluthando. The line goes dead. Airtime has run out.
“Try again, Noluthando.”
“There’s no airtime, Gogo.”
“We have to get airtime and food,” says Gladys. “Help me out of the chair.”
Sakhumzi, at the tuckshop, smiles when he sees Gladys approaching. It’s grant pay-out day. He knows he is getting paid today.
“Ndodana, there was a problem with my pension. I will sort it out tomorrow when I come back from town.”
“But you owe me too much already,” says Sakhumzi, the smile on his face suddenly gone.
“Please, son, I will pay tomorrow. There is nothing to eat. This child cannot sleep on an empty stomach. My pills also need a full stomach to work.”
Sakhumzi mulls for a few seconds and says, “What do you need?”
“Chicken pieces, the smallest maize meal, onions, a Knorrox cube and R20 airtime.”
“I am out of chicken. So it will be everything you asked for but I can only give you a fish tin. And I can only spare R10 airtime.”
“Please child, make it R20 airtime. I need to make a call to sort out my money. I need a lot of airtime.”
“That is all I can spare. Take or leave it, Gogo.”
At home Noluthando takes Gogo’s phone and promises to call the customer care line again. But first she sneaks in a call of her own.
“Hey, I can’t be long. I’m on Gogo’s phone. Please send me airtime,” she tells her boyfriend.
“I will see, but it is cold outside.”
“Noma u R5 ulungile. So we can chat on WhatsApp at least.”
“Sho, sweety,” says her boyfriend.
She tries the EasyLoans customer care line again. This time it goes through. She presses number four to speak to a consultant. The consultant picks up.
Noluthando calls Gogo to the phone, but as Gogo answers, the phone dies.
***
Tell us what you think: Is Sakhumzi fair to limit them to R10 airtime? Is he helpful in the community, or a ‘loan shark’ himself?