The Human face behind South African car guards

In recent years, the car guard industry has erupted. Excluding refugees and asylum seekers, it is mainly made up of locals who are unemployed and unskilled, with either a basic matric or no matric at all.

The informal practice of ‘guarding cars’ began as a source of generating an alternative income, due to their inability to secure work in the formal sector. However, it has grown and evolved so much that most South African cities and towns are now home to a network of car guards.

Bongani Jaffar who has lived in Grahamstown since the age of two, currently works as a car guard stationed in front of Steers on Hill Street. He hopes to eventually start a business where he can sell school supplies and “whatever the community needs”. Jaffar says that he is given a daily target and earns 50c commission on each ticket. His monthly salary is R450.

Siphokazi Qakamfana, a fellow local, worked as a car guard outside Checkers for two years before being hired by them. Working as a car guard however, allowed her to take her daughter to school and helped to initially sustain them.

Qakamfana got the job as a car guard when she saw an advert on a street lamp calling for applications. “There were many of us but we all had to write a test after a workshop where they taught us how to use the machines, and knew (sic) if we could calculate money”. She earned roughly R1500 a month whereas her previous job as a phone operator paid much less.

“I felt like I wanted a better life and something that would give me experience”. Her customers would also nag her to finish her education. Not having completed matric, she was able to save money to go back to school so she could get her certificate and work towards a more promising future.

After witnessing a man breaking into a customer’s car, she was afraid for her life.” “These guys, they know me in the location. Also sometimes the street kids would come and try and steal the money we made”. That is when she made the decision to pursue a job at Checkers. Every morning before her car guard shift began, she badgered the manager to employ her.

“I managed to do it for myself, I did not give up and I was persistent and it worked,” she says.

Despite its low stature within the workforce trajectory, being a car guard does provide a temporary set up towards something more sustainable and challenging. It also enables a degree of stability, helping people provide for themselves and their families despite their economic situation, “It is all about what we can do to improve our lives,” Qakamfana aptly notes.

Image 1: Bongani Jaffar shows the parking machine used to record information like length of time, number plates and the number of cars occupying parking space on daily.

Image 3: Siphokazi Qakamfana stands outside the back entrance to Checkers on New Street, Grahamstown where she currently works