THE CABLE THIEF

One night during the Christmas holidays the electricity went off in the building. I thought it was load shedding but it was a cable theft at one of the main suppliers. We reported the matter to City Power, but they said they couldn’t replace the copper cables because people were away on holiday. We insisted that they make a plan because we couldn’t spend Christmas holidays without any electricity. I was also worried when I saw children playing next to where the cables had been stolen. It looked so dangerous. We kept calling and calling City Power, but no one came.

Then suddenly I saw a group of people dragging a guy who they had beaten up. They said they had found him next to the hostel and shouted that he was the guy who stole the copper cables. ‘Lenja!’ (‘Dog!’) they shouted. I felt sorry for him. He didn’t look like a thief to me.

A mob gathered. They were so angry. Some said, ‘Call the police.’ Others said, ‘Why? They will take him and let him out tomorrow.’ They threw stones and then someone took a tyre and put it round his neck. I heard two guys say they were going to get paraffin. ‘We are tired of this copper theft,’ they said.

They poured paraffin over him and the crowd moved back. They were very still. These guys asked if anyone had matches. No one replied. They were angry but no one wanted to give them matches. They didn’t want this man to die. Then a passing driver stopped and asked what was going on. He called an ambulance and the police eventually came.

The next day City Power came and fixed the electricity. Some weeks later this guy returned from hospital. It turned out he didn’t steal the cables. He was just a recycler who lived in the hostel and collected cans and plastic for a living.

Anthony Mafela

MUSIC IS MY MEDICINE

I work as a club DJ in Johannesburg. A good DJ knows how to read the crowd and to have a wide selection of music to fit any mood or situation. I always look at the dance floor to see if my music is communicating with people. And you never stop the music unexpectedly while people are dancing. You may have a bottle thrown at you.

I remember one time I was playing records. It was Prince – ‘Purple Rain’ – and a young woman came to me and asked me to play Beyoncé from her phone. She was about 22 years old. I told her I couldn’t play from her phone because I was playing vinyls. She didn’t know what I meant.

‘But where is the music coming from?’ she asked.

I showed her that the sound was coming from the vinyl. She was looking for a CD or a phone that made the sound. She was shocked. ‘But there is nowhere to click and rewind.’

I love playing vinyls even though they are expensive. Some people say that they are dead but I think if DJs want to play quality music they should invest in records. Today many DJs copy music without buying. It feels like artists work so hard to produce good music, so the least we can do is buy their music.

I believe that if you can listen to and understand jazz then you can understand life. With jazz you can travel to Brazil, America or France. I love Afrobeats, from Nigeria. There is funk, jazz and African rhythms all in one. Music uplifts me and gives me courage when I am down. It’s my medicine when I am sick. But today too many artists just sing about money and cars. What’s important is to tell a story through music. Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Pops Mohamed, Stimela, Miles Davis, Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, James Brown and Missy Elliott – these are just some of my favourites. The list goes on.

Anthony Mafela

LUCKY

Lucky Mabuza runs a shisanyama business in Fleurhof. He cooks and sells chicken, pap and kotas. Informal street traders like Lucky contribute greatly to South Africa’s GDP. They offer goods and services to working-class families at prices their customers can afford. Informal traders often work in hostile environments, however, where they are harassed, their goods confiscated, and sometimes they’re evicted. But informal traders have rights and there are laws to protect them.

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Tell us: What is the danger of people taking the law into their own hands as described in CABLE THEFT?