Pretoria - The EFF in Tshwane has announced a programme to uplift about 500 young people who earn a living by taking random photographs of people.
The party said youth unemployment had left many out of the formal economy, and the number of untrained street photographers in the city had risen exponentially.
The youngsters are graduates, struggling to find employment. Money they had saved to buy the most affordable digital cameras allowed them to take pictures and immediately share them with their customers via WhatsApp.
However, their method of finding customers has irritated people walking on the street – they randomly take photographs without getting permission, with the hope those pictured will like – and buy them.
Pictures are sold for anything between R10 and R20, and the street photographer makes up to R350 a day.
Tshwane EFF chairperson Obakeng Ramabodu recently gave the youngsters an opportunity to cover the party’s oversight inspection in Sunnyside and paid them to give them an opportunity to learn while earning.
Ramabodu said there were about 500 of these young people scattered across townships and the CBD, concentrated where there was a lot of pedestrian traffic.
“This is a clear indication that the youth of this country are in desperate need of ways to make a living. I hope our initiative, to hire them for our jobs, inspires corporates, organisations and individuals, to give them the opportunity to earn a decent amount, to enable them to provide for themselves and their dependants.”
They could also use support to get into and complete tertiary education, start companies, and for those who want to take photographs for a living, to purchase equipment, he said.
“Our plan is to formalise this growing industry, because they are doing a good job, unlike those who roam the streets, abuse substances and commit crime. If you go to Mabopane Train Station they are there. If you go to Hammanskraal in Jubilee Shopping Centre, if you go to Centurion, you go to Menlyn and come back to Pretoria, they are there. They are holding cameras, charging R10.”
He said they should be booked for events to grow tourism in the city, for sports and arts and culture, as artists were now on their own.
The EFF was planning to host an imbizo for them, inviting internationally renowned photographers to mentor and train them.
The Pretoria News spoke to some of them. Ngoako Hlako, 23, from Atteridgeville, said he was also a fashion designer. He takes pictures near Sammy Marks Square.
“Things are tough, so we hope this thing can become a reality. Things are bad in this country … at least let me be out there trying my best to earn something.”
Ntatoleng Sekalo, 30, from Pretoria West, said he was a qualified civil construction artisan who graduated from Denver Technical College, who used to operate a small construction company called Ntatoleng Project and Supply which collapsed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Now I am here making around R350 a day. I usually take photos outside Church Square. Some days are good, and I can make up to R900. I will never give up. I will keep pushing until God places me where He wants me.”
Pretoria News