“I have no other home, except this bridge”

These are the words of a homeless man who lives under a railway bridge in Kliptown, Soweto.

Kliptown may be where the Freedom Charter was signed in 1955, but the streets of the township also house a number of Soweto-born homeless people.

Three of them who spoke to  said that the streets of Kliptown welcomed them after they fled their places of birth due to various issues, including drugs.

Nkosana Moloi, 40, ran away from his parental home in Rockville, Soweto, which is a stones throw away from his current home.

He shares the place with three other men who he described as his family members.

During the day, they either make some money as car guards or collect recyclable materials to sell at a local scrapyard.

Their home is six metres away from the busy railway tracks linking Vereeniging and Johannesburg.

“I am aware of the dangers of living on the streets. I never thought that one day I will live under a bridge,” he said.

Inside their home, which is covered with plastic material which doubles as a door and curtain, there are plastic flowers and other ornaments they picked from the streets of Kliptown, where they scavenge for recyclable materials.

Moloi left his parental home six years ago.

He blamed his two uncles and aunt for ill-treating him after his mother’s death in 1993.

The man grew up without a father figure.

Moloi only found out three years ago that his father is living in Pretoria.

“I grew up without a father. I wish he was around when my mother died, maybe he could have taken me in and raised me to be a better man. Instead, I was raised by people who didn’t love me and treated me like an animal.

“I have accepted that, as a child, I was very naughty and would steal and do wrong things. Again, I was not the only naughty child at home. My cousins too were naughty and they are still naughty. They were treated like flowers and angels. I was always blamed for their wrongdoings,” he said.

‘I am not going to blame anyone’

Moloi said he didn’t deliberately choose to leave his home, but circumstances drove him away.

He tried to apologise for his mistakes, hoping his guardians would take him back.

“They called me a dog that deserve to live on the streets. I thought that, after my mother’s death, my aunt and two uncles will be my legal guardians, but they turned against me and left me hopeless and homeless.

“I am not bitter and I am aware that some of my actions as a child growing up also contributed in me being homeless today. I am not going to blame anyone.”

Moloi, who left school in Grade 10, said trains passing nearby help him tell the time.

“I use trains passing here as my watch. They make noise and am getting used to their daily sound. This place is not safe, but where else should I go? The other challenges we are dealing with is water going through our house and rodents that hide here with us when it rains.

“Rodents are like family now, they don’t bite us anymore. Maybe they can’t eat the same meal [every] day,” he said laughing.

“Life is not good here. Christmas is around the corner and it is every person’s wish to spend the day with family members. For us, we have nowhere to go, but [we] will be loitering Kliptown streets looking for something to eat.

“Everyday is the same. Christmas or not is the same to us. There is no difference and we will continue living here until a miracle happens and a Samaritan donates a house to us.”