Cape Town’s strelitzia man

This is Louis Lakay, a 49 year old flower seller from Elsies River, who has been selling these flowers for the past eight years at the same place. Going for R20 each, the strelitzias are the “nephew” of South Africa’s national flower, the Protea, says Lakay.

Unemployed and struggling to make ends meet, Lakay decided to seek work at the Adderley Street flower market, where he helped the flower sellers, doing whatever job he was asked to do.

“I started selling strelitzias after we noticed here that they were not doing well in terms of sales, like the other flowers. So I took it upon myself to take a bunch of these strelitzias each day, find a busy spot in the CBD and sell them there,” says Lakay.

He says it’s not easy selling flowers because people do not see the importance of buying them. In his own area, Elsies River, Lakay does not sell any flowers because, he says, “No one wants to spend their money on flowers. They see that as a waste”.

“I have never done gardening before or anything that has to do with flowers, but working here has taught me a lot about them and how to take care of them. The strelitzia is a beautiful flower and it is easy to take care of. You snip it at the bottom, then you just put it in a vase with water. Maybe after a week give it another snip just so it can get enough water. “

“This beautiful flower lasts for about a month,” says Lakay. The strelitzias are sent to Cape Town from the Johannesburg Flower Market, he says.

He lives with his two brothers in Elsies River and has two daughters, aged 24 and 32, who do not live with him.

He is at the Adderley Street flower market from Monday to Sunday from 9am.

In a good week he makes as much as R800 from flower sales but that’s not always the case, he says.