Although some community members still regard selling rough salt as child’s play, it has been the sole source of income for Dina Mathebula of Giyani, who has been unemployed for many years.

The little income helps her to look after her eight children and two grandchildren who are all still at school. “I started selling rough salt in the streets of Giyani in 1996. It is after I realized that I would achieve nothing by folding my arms and blaming poverty and unemployment. I told myself that I needed to do something to put some food on the table, instead of wait for miracles to happen.”

Dina says she buys a 50kg of rough salt and sells the salt in containers and beakers. “A small beaker costs R2, a medium one costs R3 whereas a bigger container costs R6. I have now added sweeping brooms and steel wool to beef up my business.” She there is a small fortune in her business. “Although it is not a usual job, I can at least take home R50 each day. But when the business is bad, I can make R20, but it pains me because I sometimes go home empty handed. There is nothing I can do, except to hold on to my dreams because I want my children to become responsible adults.”

She says she endures hardships because some people regard her as a laughing stock. “They regard my job as something of a very low class, but I don’t care, because I know what I am doing. Those who are still waiting for miracles must know that they are living in a world of fantasy. We are the only ones who can make things happen.”

She encourages other unemployed women to take matters upon themselves: “The time for depending on someone else for survival is over. We have to stand up and fight to the bitter end until we win this war against poverty.”