Guys I don’t want to judge but
come on, why would you use all your salary to fill-up petrol in your car?🤷 Why don’t you for now park that car and use minibus
taxis, subsidized ZUPCO buses or even hitch hike. Better still sell that car. I
know the economic situation is worse in Zimbabwe as I do have a pig farming
project in Zimbabwe, nothing seems to be working there. Also we haven’t
received any rentals from Zimbabwe in over 3 years now. This economy is bad for
everyone, as the saying goes, “You can’t always control what is thrown at you
but you always have a choice on how you react”.
On 2 October 2017, I finished
serving my four weeks notice after spending 10 years with my employer in
Pretoria. I wanted to try and do my own thing. After spending the month of
October in Zimbabwe shoring up my piggery project,(http://kanyokad.blogspot.com/2018/09/why-i-no-longer-fear-failure-my-journey.html?m=1).I
came back to South Africa. I then bought my fourth truck and one of my
mechanics recommend an excellent truck driver. The next morning the new driver
was waiting for me by my car. We drove to the truck parking yard in Pretoria
East. On the third day we got work and I paid him his commission.
He had told me about his
financial situation and things were not looking good, he was a few months
behind on his rentals in a shack that he was renting closer to Hercules,
Pretoria. His wife was temporarily staying with her relatives in Brits. To my
surprise he went into the Food Lovers closer to where we parked and came out
with very nice food including flavored water the bill was over R150. During
mouthfuls whilst we were enjoying this feast, I had to ask him why he was
spending all this money given his financial situation 🤷
His answer was whenever he got
some money, he always spoil himself as he would never make enough to meet his
financial obligations. 😳 I told him look at me I try not to use more than R15
for lunch. If I wanted a cool drink 4 of us would contribute R4 each and buy a
2litre. If no one wanted to contribute, I would buy 2 Litre and drink 500ml and
carry the rest home for my family(pana mhofu mari haibude zvekumhanya🙈)
I think I am a good judge of
character so when I got home that evening I told maNyoni that this guy would
not last. The next morning at 6am I saw the guy standing by my car. I was
excited to tell him that on this day we were going to use minibus taxis and he
had to pay his his own fare.
The next day I was going back to
my routine of running almost 2km to the train station and then board the Metro
Rail to Mamelodi and then run almost 5kms to Pretoria East and Vice versa in
the evening. This situation fitted me perfectly since I was also practicing for
Comrades Marathon, I was guaranteed to run 12kms from Monday to Saturday and
then on Sundays I would do my normal long runs. It made perfect financial sense
to do so as the monthly train ticket cost less than R200 as compared to between
R50 to R80 daily petrol on my cars . The next day at 6am he was not there, I
then ran to the train station as per my usual routine. I even tried to phone
him and his phone was off, I then moved on.
Two months later he came to see
me and he had a story and he said his wife had left him (I can totally
sympathize with the wife, I imagined if she was my sister I would have advised
her not to look back) He also wanted his job back, I told him it was too late
as I already had another driver. Look you don’t have to live a frugal life, you
have to spoil yourself once in a while. It’s like blowing all your salary with
friends in a bar before you buy groceries for your wife and kids and before you
pay your rent🤷.
The problem is that most of us we
live to impress society that is quick to judge. When I moved to South Africa in
2007 my first car that I bought was a Toyota Tazz. I then drove to see my
cousin in Mutoko. My cousin asked me why was I not considering coming back and
rejoining my previous employer in Zimbabwe. I asked him why and he pointed out
that when I was in Zimbabwe I was driving a big Toyota Hilux double cab and now
in South Africa I was now driving a small Toyota sedan.
I laughed at this and pointed
out to him that the small Toyota Tazz was my own car whereas the prestigious
big Toyota Bakkie was owned by the company. I told him that once we finished
building our home in Zimbabwe and also bought our own home in South Africa, we
would buy a better car.
You should not live for the
approval of the society. Maybe it’s time you look into the friends that you
hang out with. Not everyone can start a business to improve your income. All
you need to watch every cent. In Shona we have a saying ‘ Saga reshuga
rinopedzwa ne Teaspoon’ an equivalence of how one a huge elephant carcass can
quickly be devoured a piece at a time. Imagine at work everyday you buy two
cups of coffee for R10 each, you buy a chocolate for R12, a muffin R15,
takeaway R50, cool drink R15 and a packet of cigarettes for R40. Total of R152
per day multiplied by 21 working day it is R3 192.
R3 500 can pay for a monthly
installment on a R350 000 mortgage or you can pay an installment on a sedan
worth R175 000 and use it for Uber or taxify🤷️.
My point is that hardships don’t
last forever but you need to plan and make small and sound decisions each and
everyday.
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