Humans of Makhanda: Capturing the spirit of Makhanda through its people and their services to this town
The current Humans of Makhanda series was sparked by Experimental Portraiture, a personal project of mine, Dideka Njemla, that I committed to for six weeks. This project allowed me to immerse myself in a refreshing experience that combined writing, design and photography. While experimenting with these digital treatments, I chose to focus on six individuals, paying particular attention to their occupations. Each week was dedicated to one individual whom I wanted to learn about. Out of curiosity, I shadowed several of them to engage in their work and experience their day-to-day responsibilities firsthand. Through this series, we’ll explore how these people of interest are committed to serving Makhanda through their jobs.
Person of interest: Xolisa Webb
Occupation: Car guard
Workspace: Somerset Street
Human of Makhanda: 1
Regardless of Makhanda’s heavy rainfalls or scorching days, Xolisa Webb can be found on the corner of Somerset Street, offering a smile and a helping hand in directing drivers into parking spots. Webb’s friendly and talkative nature has a way of lifting moods and his clients describe him as an intellectual individual who is always ready to strike up a conversation about anything to challenge perspectives and encourage thinking. Between guarding cars and greeting his regulars, Webb managed to join me for a chat that unpacked his journey and the life that led him to car guarding.
Detailing the entrepreneurial hustle of his daily routine, Webb said that his day begins at 7.30am and ends at 1pm, where he then steps into the duties of fatherhood. “I arrive here and head to the Theatre Café. I always clean there, and she also gives me something to chow and pays me later during the week. After, I go to the School of Languages, ndivase eza moto ze lecturers ne professor. For the rest of the day, ndiba lapha ndi jonge imoto ndiphinde ndizivase. But after 13h00 ndiyagoduka ndithathe umntanam eskolweni ndihlale naye.”
Raised in a middle-class home in Joza, eRhini, Webb said, “I had everything going for me — I did not suffer or anything – but what made my life change is the bad decisions I took in life under peer pressure. When I made those bad decisions, things started changing.” With only his mother to raise him, Webb had grown up in the absence of a fatherly figure, which he said may have influenced his upbringing. He spoke about his past, where he was involved in activities such as drinking, drugs and crime. “Kwafikela ilixa umamam xaye eyondi visit-ela when I was serving my sentence in Stutterheim wathi ‘mntanam if you don’t change your ways, I will not be here forever. This is what I’m giving you–’ wandishiyela imali wathi, ‘mna ngoku I’m sick, I’m dying.’ Webb said that hearing his mother’s words and seeing her in that state provoked an emotion in him that urged him to transform his life. “When I came out of prison in 2011, my mother was on her deathbed. I literally watched my mother pass away in front of my eyes.”
Following his mother’s passing, he began working at Siyakubonga Funeral Services, owned by Ronel Mostert, who had been his mother’s colleague. “The funeral parlour that I was working for is the one my mom had a funeral policy with. So, when she passed away, I was able to see her every blessed day at the morgue,” he said. He continued, “I bathed her and clothed her during that time, and I crafted her gravestone myself.” Webb described that time as an emotional wake-up call. “I had to wake up because it reminded me ba if ndiyaqhubeka ngoba bomu then andizazi ndizophelela phi.” But, Webb said, after three years, working at a funeral parlour eventually became overwhelming and grew beyond what he could handle.
“Ndikhe ndahlala elokshini emveni koko ndinga fumani msebenzi. Ndayiva i-unemployment,” he said. Circumstances were tough as neither his brother nor his girlfriend had a source of income. “I had to make ends meet every day because I tried to find a job ndabe ndingawufumani.” Because unemployment was not an option, he started his own car wash. “Ndingumntu olincoko so ndadibana nabantu aba right, ndaphela ndilapha elihlobo. Ndingasazi isiphelo sam sithini because I can’t do this for the rest of my life.”
Webb said that, post-high school, he had aspired to become an accountant. “I still do want to become an accountant, but my hands are tied because of the situation that I’m in. I must fend for my kid and my girlfriend.”
Looking back on his mistakes, he said, “I started smoking when I was 13 and then I moved onto ganja. Then, when I was 16, I did drugs like Mandrax. Ndaphela ndiba stout because kaloku I had to support my habit. So that was what led me to prison.” Webb said that what began as shoplifting had spiralled to robbery, and he served two-and-a-half years of a five-year sentence. “That feeling of wondering if I’d get caught or not came with an adrenaline rush. It created excitement for me. We even used to travel for lanto — aphe Rhini, go to Port Alfred, sihambe siye nase King William’s Town. Sihambe siye nase Bhofolo nase East London.” Webb admitted that his involvement with the wrong crew led to sentencing at 23 after numerous arrests. “There were seven of us, from the same school and township. “Six are dead, and I am the only one left. All of them died. Saphantse sa professional because sasifumana ne orders xasiyo kwenza robberies.” He said that two died in prison, two were victims of shootings, and one died in a car accident.
Although Webb has stepped onto a new path, he said that he still carries the discrimination from his past mistakes. “Kunzima because uyazama uzitshintsha, but people don’t see it that way, they see otherwise,” he said. He continued to say that, though many people have tested him, he remains determined to rise above and hope for a better future.
“I’d never return to that life because I know the consequences it comes with. Ndisifundile isifundo sam.”
