Car guards

[oliver]

Cape Town has been taken over by car guards over the past few years. If you park virtually anywhere in town or the surrounding areas (Sea Point, Green Point, Gardens, etc) you are almost guarenteed to have a car guard force themselves into looking after your car. It's something which really annoys me more than I describe. Firstly, my car is insured so if something gets stolen it is covered and, more importantly, I despise being bound by some form of contract that I never agreed to.

I realise that there are lots of people out there who do not have jobs but I still cannot bring myself to ever accept the infestation Cape Town has experienced. In my opinion being a car guard is no more than organised begging. Anybody can purchase an orange bib and deem themselves a carguard.

There is also the aspect of extortion where people may worry about making a bad impression in case the car guard conspires to have something harmful happen to your car. In another form of extortion, I have often seen girls being far more submissive and giving car guards money when they leave because they are on their own.

I rarely give car guards money unless they either strike me strongly as a good person in a desperate situation or when they are unmenacing and generally unobtrusive.

But in all honesty I would much rather have my radio stolen once a year and have no car guards present whatsoever - they make me feel uncomfortable and irritated.

Would be interested to hear anybody elses thoughts on the matter.

Pretoria News did an informal survey among car guards on Church Square and surrounding streets and found that some car guards in the Pretoria CBD take home more money each month than police constables who risk their lives every day.

On average, car guards say they earn between R3 500 and R7 500 a month. This is more than the take-home pay of a junior police constable, who can expect to take home R4 800 a month after medical aid deductions, taxes and pension deductions. This includes R400 danger pay a month.

There are various salary scales in each police rank, with a constable's salary varying between R5 618,50 and R6 835,75 before tax and other deductions.
A senior superintendent receives between R25 937 and R31 556,50 a month before taxes and deductions.

Car guard Vusi Masangu said he had chosen his trade because it was an honest day's living.

"The money that I make, which varies between R3 000 and R4 500 a month, goes to feeding and sending my two children to school, looking after my wife, rent and transport to and from my home in Soshanguve," he said.

Masangu's colleague Donald Gebuza, who "owns" 10 parking bays in Church Square, said he could make upwards of R350 a day.

Gebuza has been parking and guarding cars in Pretoria for the past 10 years.

'This is an extremely lucrative business'
He said on average he received between R10 and R15 per car that he looked after and he could look after up to 20 cars a day.

Gebuza said the people whose cars he looked after usually gave him R20, of which he used R6 for the parking meters, giving the motorist two hours' parking time.

He said he supplemented his income by washing the cars of his customers for between R15 and R20, depending on whether the people wanted their cars cleaned on the inside as well as the outside.

Gebuza said the busiest days for car guards were Wednesdays to Fridays, especially from the middle of the month when people were paid.

"Quite often a car guard can make between R300 and R450 a day just looking after parked cars and then another R100 from washing cars.

"This is an extremely lucrative business, especially if you are prepared to work long hours," he said.

Asked if he realised that he made more than police constables, he said police officer's salaries were "disgusting".

Pretorius Street and Church Square car guard Jabu Mahlangu said it was a shame that people who were meant to protect the country's citizens received such a poor salary.

"I now know why some policemen turn to crime. How else can they survive, especially when they do not even make enough money to feed and send their children to school?" he said.

Mahlangu said working his "parking bays" he easily made enough money to school and feed his children and a little extra to buy them toys.

"I do not know how a policeman does that with the little money that he makes every month."

Solomon Phalazi and his colleague, John Molatudi, who guard cars in streets surrounding Church Square, said they all had monthly customers as well as daily customers.

"From monthly customers I receive between R400 and R600. I can easily make more than R6 000 a month with the money that I get from my monthly and daily customers," said Phalazi.

Molatudi said he usually made between R4 500 and R6 000 a month from washing and guarding cars.

"I am happy and believe that we are doing a good job," he said.

A Pretoria constable said that even though he got poor pay he would continue doing his job because he loved his work. "If there were no people like me working for an idiot's salary then there would be no one to protect our country's people," he said.

Police and Prison Civil Rights Union spokesperson Boiki Tsedu said the money paid to lower ranking police members was a national shame.

"It is pathetic that car guards make more money than a policeman, especially when one looks at the work load and the risk involved in the execution of their duties," he said.

I think it by time that the public service department which determines the salaries of police review salaries, the last set of increases still dont cut it. if we dont look after the police, they will NOT look after us.