Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 July 2025
I first visit Zandspruit in July 2011, a week after a string of protests that shake the community. The protestors’ main gripe is the lack of service delivery and the inaction of their local ward councillor, whom they hold responsible for their deplorable living conditions and the missing basic services. On this July morning, I park my car at the petrol station opposite the settlement and phone Lawrence, who has agreed to meet me. Lawrence is a community development worker, a public servant deployed in communities ostensibly to help residents access government services. But Lawrence is stuck in a meeting and cannot meet me as planned. ‘Sello is coming,’ he says over the phone. ‘He knows everything around here.’ The phone cuts. Five minutes later, a short, broad-shouldered man sporting white Superga trainers, a Nike shirt, and a large diamond earring in his left ear approaches me. This is Sello.
Standing next to my car, I explain to Sello that I am here to understand what motivates young people’s involvement in the protests that are becoming a frequent occurrence in townships and informal settlements across South Africa. Sello, not particularly enthusiastic but without hesitation, agrees to show me around. ‘Let’s go to my place first,’ he says, remarking that I will soon comprehend why people are on the streets. We cross the main road and walk along a sidewalk dotted with car repair shops, makeshift hair salons, and a variety of small stalls peddling everything from cellphone chargers to cigarettes and brightly coloured fruit stacked in plastic bowls. We pass by the local primary school, the clinic, and a massive dumpsite with waste piled three metres high. At a T-junction we veer right up a dirt path. Sello’s shack sits at the fork of two more footpaths that lead into a maze of narrow alleys between densely packed shacks in the settlement’s most crowded and under-serviced area. His shack is painted red with Vodacom signage on one side and pictures of various hairstyles on the other. It is divided into the living space he shares with his girlfriend and the area where he runs a barbershop.
On that day, and in the weeks and months that follow, I spend time with Sello and the mix of friends, neighbours, and occasional customers who gather at the barbershop to exchange gossip and discuss local politics. Sello never readily divulges how he makes his money. On some occasions, he refers to himself as unemployed; on others, he claims he is ‘hustling’ or ‘working in politics’. It is only after observing the ebb and flow of people at his shack – often a site of lengthy negotiations and disputes over payments – that I start to grasp the various sources of Sello’s income and understand why almost everyone I meet in Zandspruit knows him. Sello operates as a local mashonisa (unregistered loan shark) and plays a prominent role in the informal governance structures that patrol the streets at night. I later learn that he played a significant role in orchestrating the recent protests, something I was unaware of when we initially met. Sello’s barbershop is not primarily a commercial enterprise. It serves as a nexus for social networks and a legitimate income source, shielding him from potential allegations of corruption from his political adversaries. He makes money through various means, including managing informal land transactions, mediating disputes between landlords and tenants, and lending money to local residents at a hefty 50 per cent interest rate, regardless of the loan size. ‘There is a lot of money revolving around here,’ he tells me, ‘but it requires a sharp mind to see it and to take advantage of it.’
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