Weeping old men of the f/town bus rank

Patricia Edwin
Staff Writer | Friday August 3, 2012 00:00

One of the men, Kedibonye Moabi is famous for his crying antics when he does not have his way with people, especially when they do not buy his peanuts that he has also become famous for selling. While other people treat the bus rank as a stepping-stone to ultimately having established businesses these two men vow that hawking at the bus rank is a profession and they would not rather do something else. Moabi, who is well known to Francistowners as Kedi says that he has been selling at the bus rank for the past three years after he retired from his job as a labourer at Botswana Meat Commission (BMC).

He has since become famous for weeping when his sales do not go as predicted. When approached by this paper for an interview, Kedi would not budge until the reporters bought his peanuts. It immediately becomes clear why Kedi is dubbed the 'weeping old guy of the bus rank' as he whines that people are not buying his peanuts. 'They buy only when they choose to,' he says while holding his cheek to portray his sadness. Kedi says that before he came to the rank he used to be a cattle farmer back home in Mandunyane, but was robbed of them by the recurring Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) epidemic.

He says when his cattle died he had to look for something else. He says that though business is not stable in the rank that is what he wants to do. 'I just want to be here selling but people are not buying. Some days are better than others,' he says .Kedi hails from Mandunyane Village near Tonota and is 65-years of age but he emphasises that he has no intention of leaving the rank. 'This is what I am doing to put food on the table and I have no intention of leaving any time soon,' he says. Kedi leaves his home in Mandunyane every morning to come to Francistown and he goes inside long-distance buses to sell to travellers and usually it becomes a task to get him out of the bus when it is departure time.

Sometimes he would cling to the bus all the way to as far as Tonota Village and then walk all the way to Francistown. When we photographed Kedi, his feet were swollen from walking all the way from Makomoto - about 45 kilometres - to Francistown.The other 'oldie' Ishmael Maebe says that he has been selling at the bus rank since 1985 before Francistown Bus rank moved to its current location. Maebe says that he mainly sells fruits and other small things that people might need when travelling. He says that for the past 27 years while he has been involved in this business it has evolved. 'People used to buy from us but now there are so many people selling like Zimbabweans, Chinese, Somalis which has made it difficult for people to buy from us,' he said. He said that things have changed drastically because now to sell it means more hard work and even longer hours.

The 71-year-old Maebe, who nowadays has a penchant to gesticulate and speak loudly to himself, says that he used to work for Sefalana Wholesalers. 'I worked there for seven years and while I was still employed there I acquired a hawker's licence to start my own business and I have been selling in the rank ever since,' he said. He said that usually business is better when it is month end. 'Times are different. Sometimes we can have good days and of course there are bad days especially for us who are selling perishables and those selling chicken and chips,' he added. Maebe further told The Monitor that to be successful in the bus rank one needs to have patience because there are many challenges and success does not happen overnight. He said that in a day he can make P300.  The two gents are treated with deference by other hawkers at the bustling bus rank.