Sibabalwe Mpetha studying after school hours. Photo by Pharie Sefali.
21 August 2014
“Some gangsters in my community have their reasons to be in gangs. I understand where they are coming from, but I choose to be different,” says Sibabalwe Mpetha.
Mpetha,19, is a grade 12 learner in Leiden High school.
He lives in a one-roomed shack in Delft with four brothers and sisters and his unemployed mother.
“I come from a poor background but that will not stop me from wanting to go to university and study law.”
At times, he says, the family goes to bed without eating and they have to drink water to have something in their stomach. Sometimes the family fights because there is no food and people get angry with one another.
Sometimes they ask neighbours for food.
“I have a four-month-old sister who gets a government grant and that is the family’s source of income.”
“Sometimes I get money by helping out my neighbours and I use that money to buy a R5 bread and a 50 cent drink-o-pop.”
Mpetha says there is little privacy at home. “When I have to take a bath I have to wait for people to sleep or I have to wake up early in the morning”.
He has written a book about his life and is writing another, though he has no money to get them published.
“Every night I pray to God about my situation and at times it makes me weak. I have thought of many ways to get out of this situation and being in a gang was one of them. But then, I thought to myself, if I was to be in a gang, there wouldn’t be any home for my family and I would be making the situation worse.”
But though he tries to be different from those who have chosen a gangster’s life, sometimes he regrets his choice.
“Every day I cry,” he says.
At school, life is different because he gets a chance not to think about his situation.
Sometimes he feels guilty about eating at school when his brothers and sisters have no food.
“At school I get to eat at least a meal a day through the feeding scheme, but sometimes I do not eat,” he says.
Mpetha claims that he is doing very well at school and his home situation is not affecting his performance.
He says he often stays behind after school so that he can study in peace with other learners, since he has no study space at home.
Mpetha says, “I know what I want in life, and that is to be a lawyer, and nothing will stand in my way. I want to study and be a role model to many.”