16 Aug 2015

Mr Dikatlholo Machaba has not allowed his disability to condemn him to a life of poverty.

The Motlopi resident sells sweets, soft drinks, chips and water in the Maun-Gaborone buses to support his family of four girls and two boys. The 44-year-old says he became blind at 19 years due to glaucoma.

He has been selling his wares in buses since 2005.

He says he leaves his house at 8:30am on a daily basis and knocks off at 3pm. On slow days, he does not head home until 5pm. He boards a bus in Letlhakane at 9am that drops him at the Makoba gate. 

Then at noon, he takes another that drops him at Mokoboxane gate then at around 2pm, he boards one which takes him back to Letlhakane.

Mr Machaba says the support he gets from bus drivers, conductors, passengers and his stockist has been awesome. He thanks the government for the food basket and the P500 he receives monthly in social welfare benefits.

“I would like to advise people with the same condition as mine that disability is not inability. We should not wholly depend on the government,” he says.

 Mr Machaba says he makes between P3 000 and P1 400 per month. ENDS