An unemployed man took everyone by surprise when he suddenly created a job opportunity for himself. Joseph Netshakhuma (49) of Nzhelele, Dopeni, near Tshikombani, collects stones from the local mountain with a wheelbarrow and crushes them with a hammer to manufacture concrete.

Interestingly, Joseph can now support his unemployed wife and four school-going kids.

"This village is blessed with a lot of stones and I decided to make some money out of them. When other people see these stones as waste products, I see them as precious gifts from God which I can use to make money. I have been unemployed for many years and I decided to do something about it. Why keep on sleeping because we can at least do something for ourselves? There is no more time for sleeping in the new millennium and we have to do something on our own, to contribute to the economic development of our society," said Joseph, while hammering his concrete.

Joseph said some people thought he was out of his mind when he started his small business in 2001. "When I went to pick up the stones, I became a laughing stock, but I continued because I knew what I was doing. Today, it is better because I can put some food on the table." However, Joseph admits that crushing stones with a hammer is not an easy job: "I don’t have protective gear and I sometimes injure myself on duty. There is nothing I can do because I must support my family with the home-made concrete. I am not well educated and there is no other job suitable for me, except this one."

The hardworking Joseph says it takes him three weeks to crush a truckload of the concrete. "I sometimes go for weeks, even a month, without any customers but I never give up because there is nothing more I can do to support my family."

He urges other unemployed members of the community to follow suit: "It is upon our shoulders to build our future and we need to come up with something to keep our life going."

Joseph can be contacted at 082 586 7291