Security guard’s dream is to build a house for his kids

Vhutshilo Mudau finished his shift as a security guard at one of the big retailers in Meadowdale, Germiston, on the East Rand, at 6am when he met up with Sowetan.

Instead of going home to sleep, he went straight to his side hustle of selling socks to make extra cash.

This “side job” gives him R500 a month. It may seem too little but to Mudau, 37, it makes a huge difference to his life.

He is on a mission to build a home for his children in Finetown, south of Johannesburg, where he bought a stand on top of a hill. 

That is his dream and he also wants his three children, who live with their mother in Gaba village in Venda, to come live with him in Finetown.

Since 2009, he has worked for several security companies and his starting salary was R2,500 a month. He said he now earns about R6,000. But his family does not like his job.

“My job is difficult. I can face dangerous situations at any time. When I catch someone stealing something, I become an enemy of that person.  When I catch people stealing, some of them tell me they will come to my place and kill me.

“My family does not like my job. I have told them that I am doing the job because there is nothing else I can do. My children are supposed to go to school. The money is also not enough to cater for all our needs,” Mudau said.

Mudau has provident but no pension fund. Last month, for the first time since he started working in the industry, his employers put him on medical aid.

Sowetan recently reported about two security guards who were gunned down by cable thieves in the Vaal. In other attacks in Nomzamo Park in Orlando East, Soweto, a security guard escaped with  five gunshot wounds while guarding City Power electric cables which were not being used.

His colleague told of how he had been shot at twice but survived in the same area where gunmen were digging up the cables. The community is living in fear of the thugs who dig  holes and leave open trenches on their doorsteps.

As a child,  Mudau wanted to become an auditor when he finished school but due to lack of funding that dream was never realised.

He said his elder brother brought him to Johannesburg where he underwent training to become a call centre agent for six months.

When he could not find a job, he went for two months training to become a security guard.

“Looking after people’s property and escorting cash in transit vans is not something I wanted to do. Working as a security guard has too many risks,” Mudau said.

He said he was first exposed to the risks in 2009, when the company he worked for would deploy them to deal with land invasions in the North West.

“When community members realised that we did not have the tactical support, they attacked us with rocks and we had to flee for our lives. We left the people to do whatever they like.”

Mudau currently works for G4S, a company he joined in 2014. He said in 2014, he was deployed to a company in Kempton Park that sold cellphones. Part of his job was to ensure that employees did not steal.

“People would put cellphones inside dustbins while others would put them inside their panties but I would catch them. I did not like the fact that people would lose their jobs.”

But it was in his next job as an employee of a company that produces cables and transformers in 2017 that Mudau faced death.

Recalling that day, Mudau said about five men arrived in a car and parked on the side of the road. They then rushed straight to the gate.

They used a crow bar to remove the gate from its track and unfortunately for Mudau he was alone in the building. His colleague had not pitched for work on that day.

“I pressed the panic button and immediately called my boss. They were armed with assault rifles and  hit the walls of the room I was in. I did not move. They then went to a van, which had cables and transformers.

“They switched on the engine and drove off. I was terrified. I knew that if those people had seen that I was there, they would have killed me.”

Mudau currently works four days and gets the two days off.

He uses his time off to make extra cash.

He told Sowetan that he had lost hope of ever fulfilling his childhood dream of becoming an auditor. All he wanted to do was to complete the house he is building for his family.