Domestic worker Khosi Mahlangu's gruelling day starts at 2am when she starts preparing to take a 3am bus from Machiding village in Mpumalanga, kicking off her daily four-hour journey on the deadly Moloto road to work in Garsfontein, Pretoria East.
Photo credit: Alon Skuy
I'd love to share this touchingly amazing story of a domestic worker with you all. In hopes that we cultivate a more appreciating and thankful attitude towards life for whatever we have. Believe me there's some one else out there going through much more stress than you may think you are going through. Story after the cut...
Every morning, while most people are asleep in warm beds, KwaNdebele-based Nomakhosazana Mahlangu wakes at 2am to get ready for her four-hour bus ride to work in Pretoria.
The National Household Travel Survey 2013 was released and showed that of the 39% of people who use public transport to get to work nationally, 8% used buses.
Reporter Sipho Masombuka and photographer Alon Skuy joined one of those people on her daily commute to work.
When domestic worker Nomakhosazana Mahlangu leaves home every morning, she knows she may not return at the end of the day.
Mahlangu spends eight hours on the accident-prone Moloto Road travelling to and from her home in the former KwaNdebele homeland in Mpumalanga to Pretoria.
It's a journey that she and thousands of others make every day because it's several hundred rands cheaper than living in Pretoria.
Mahlangu wakes at 2am to prepare for the 1km walk to the bus stop, where she catches the 3am bus that kicks off her four-hour 126km journey to her destination in Garsfontein in Pretoria East.
She is lucky today: the bus arrives in Machiding village on time and is not full yet, so Mahlangu gets a seat.
"In some instances, particularly on the first Monday after month-end, all seats are taken by the time the bus gets to my stop. This means I have to stand in the aisle for the entire journey," she says.
It is the first of two buses Mahlangu takes en route on the R573 to work.
The 24 "High Accident Zone" warning signs are testimony to the notoriety of the 70km stretch of Moloto Road nicknamed "Road of Death".
"I have made peace with the fact that I might leave home never to come back alive," says the 26-year-old breadwinner for her family of seven.
An hour and 58.5km later, the bus hugs the imposing traffic circle as it enters the Moreleta Park bus station.
Here, with the mercury dropping to 4C, Mahlangu will wait an hour on an open platform for her connecting bus. It's a busy stop. At least four buses every two minutes drive in and out of the station, loading and off-loading passengers wrapped in blankets.
Mahlangu's connecting bus, with windows covered in mist from the warmth of the commuters' breath, takes five minutes to swallow the queuing passengers.
Over the last 67km of her journey, Mahlangu steals a nap. A stranger seated next to her does the same, resting his head on her shoulder.
At 6.30am, Mahlangu gets off the bus and walks the last 1.3km to the household she serves.
At 7am sharp, she has changed into her black overalls and starts with the pile of ironing waiting for her in the kitchen.
A day of domestic chores lies ahead before Mahlangu will start the journey home at 2.30pm on the dot.
"It is hard, but I have to work to feed my siblings, [a seven-year-old] daughter and parents. I also love my job and my employer treats me very well. It is worth the trouble," Mahlangu says.
Her transport costs R800 a month, cheaper than the R1200 monthly rent plus an additional R560 transport costs she would have to pay if she stayed in Mamelodi, 20km away from her job.
Source: Times Live
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