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Raymond Jaravaza, Showbiz Correspondent 

AT the crack of dawn on a Monday morning, 68-year-old Anastasia Masuku Ntini drags herself out of bed and heads to a bottle store in Nketa 7 suburb before proceeding to two more beer gardens in the same neighbourhood. 

Her early morning ‘trips’ to the drinking spots are not to quench her thirst or to treat a hangover because she does not drink beer. Gogo MaNgwenya has never tested the wise waters in her entire life. 

To her neighbours and residents of Nketa 7, Gogo MaNgwenya is known as the ‘scrounger’. 

She despises the name but is not ashamed of the new business venture that she has taken up of collecting empty plastic opaque beer containers for resale. Commonly known as ‘Batai Munhu’, the Delta Beverages brewed Chibuku opaque beer is a favourite among alcohol drinkers yet Gogo MaNgwenya is not interested in anyone’s drinking habits.

She is only interested in collecting empty plastic containers. 

As the saying goes; one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. 

“Like any other self employed person, I determine my working hours but in this business, I have to wake up early every morning to collect the empty beer containers. 

“I know some people call me names and some even suggest I have a mental problem of some sort, but I’m in this business to make money and feed my grandchildren so I don’t care what anyone says,” she told Saturday Leisure at her house in Nketa 7 suburb. 

She said she does not limit herself to empty beer containers only as the company that she sells the containers to buys every kind of plastic container.

“The work is filthy and degrading but come to think of it, I have no boss here. I determine my working hours and the job feeds the family. I don’t earn a pension like most people my age but I have bills to pay and grandchildren to take care of,” she said. 

Gogo MaNgwenya is however not aware that waste management and recycling companies are making a killing from her sweat.

“The company that buys the plastic containers is based in Donnington but I don’t even know their name. They phone me at least once a week asking if they can come and collect the containers which they weigh and they pay according to the kilogrammes.”

Per week, she makes about RTGS$80 but feels the money is too little. 

“Life is getting expensive and they should review their payments. When I started collecting plastic containers eight months ago, I used make more money but many people have also joined the business and competition is getting stiff,” she said.

Just four houses from Gogo MaNgwenya’s home, another ‘scrounger’ Sibusisiwe Nkomo shows off her pile of plastic containers.. 

“I was introduced to the business by MaNgwenya but I know of seven other women that have also joined in,” said Nkomo. 

National Waste Collections (NWC) Bulawayo branch operations controller Desire Ndudzo said there was brisk business in waste management depending on what one was collecting.

“Waste management people are the last people to be out of business because companies need material to recycle,” said Ndudzo.

Saturday Leisure tracked down the company that buys waste from Gogo MaNgwenya in Donnington industrial area and an official who only identified himself as Emmanuel was evasive in giving details of their operations. 

Environmental Management Agency Bulawayo provincial manager Decent Ndlovu lamented the behaviour of waste buyers saying they wanted to take the waste for less at the expense of individuals like Gogo MaNgwenya.

“We have a challenge of buyers of waste material. Those who buy want to pay less or get the material for free yet they make a killing from recycling the waste,” he said.

Ndlovu implored companies that buy waste material to pay good prices as well as provide protective clothing to the people that supply them with the waste.

Waste buying is a thriving business that has been in existence for years especially at Bulawayo’s infamous Ngozi Mine dumping site where scores of jobless people sift through piles of garbage in search of material for recyling. —  @RaymondJaravaza