Asanda Zincume, a petite 30-year-old woman dressed to the nines struts in to talk to IOL about her experience living on the streets.
With her high-heeled ankle boots and dolled up face, one would not assume that she is homeless.
When people imagine those of the unhoused population, they may think of tattered clothing, a dishevelled appearance and lack of hygiene.
Albeit true, this stereotype type flattens the experiences of people on the streets by thinking of them as a monolith.
This is the case with homeless women, who, in an effort to protect themselves from society’s judgemental eyes and even violence, attempt not to look unhoused.
Zincume, with her bright personality and infectious laugh, is an embodiment of this. However, beneath this, her story is one of extreme hardship, desperation, and fortunately, triumph.
Growing up in Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal, Zincume said before she started doing drugs, she had been a respectful child.
“I was an only child and I grew up living with my mother. My father was not in the picture. He sometimes provided for me, but it was sporadic,” she said.
Her spiral into drug use started in 2010 when she was just 16.
“I did not just wake up randomly one day and decide to be a drug addict. Me and a group of friends would pick up cigarette buds while I was still in school. But, it was relatively harmless.”
However, the group soon went up to smoking cannabis. Zincume added that an older man who ran a shebeen and sold dagga took interest in one of her friends who was also a teenager.
The girl turned him down, and according to Zincume, this angered him and he concocted a plan to get revenge.
“He laced our joints with whoonga and gave them to us already rolled up. We smoked, thinking it was our usual stuff. One of my friends would get sick but we did not notice.
“However, after about a week of smoking every day, I also woke up feeling extremely ill and was in the dark as to what had afflicted me. I called to my friend to let her know I would not becoming to school and found out that she was also sick,” recalled Zincume.
The group thought they needed to smoke to feel better, but when they got to the man, he laughed at them and then opened up about drugging them with whoonga. The girls were horrified.
“We had become addicted and my friend ended up living acquiescing to his advances and ended up living with him and got infected with HIV,” she explained.
To fund the expensive drug habit, Zincume said she would use the money her grandmother gave her for transport to school. Ultimately this also ended up not being enough and she resorted to stealing.
Zincume, who was then 17, met a 20-year-old man who sold whoonga in Durban. He supplied her with drugs and shelter in a flat in exchange for sexual relations.
However, the man was eventually arrested for drug dealing and Zincume was suddenly thrust in a very compromised position on the streets.
“I was terrified of being attacked and raped while I was sleeping and killed, with my body probably being disposed of like rubbish.”
While on the streets, she eventually met a man who was also homeless and they started dating. Zincume experienced gender-based violence at the hands of this man and the scars on her face bear memory to this painful time of her life.
In one instance, he gave her money and she went and bought drugs, food, clothes and even did her hair.
The man had been expecting sex and the pair went to a park, Zincume said. He kept coercing her while there were other people around and she kept turning him down.
“He was furious and got violent. He beat me to a pulp and blood was gushing down my face. I managed to get up and ran to the train tracks. He chased after me and took a rock and beat me with it. I am lucky I survived,” she said.
Years went by and Zincume knew that something had to give because of the constant hardship.
In 2020, when the government enforced the Covid-19 lockdowns around the country, the eThekwini Municipality rounded up homeless people on the streets to the Strollers Building.
She said she was grateful to have a roof over her head but quickly experienced withdrawal as she had no access to drugs anymore. However, they were given methadone (an opioid medicine that is used in the treatment of heroin and other opioid dependencies, and for pain relief from some conditions).
During this time, Zincume reflected on her life and saw that she wanted more for herself. So, she put a plan to motion.
Being able to do hair, she went around the building offering to perform the service and she would get some money. However, it was not enough.
After the lockdown was lifted, she ventured to the streets and even salons to offer people her skills. Through this she was able to provide for herself, even though she still was without a home of her own.
“I want to have a prosperous life, open my own hair salon and have my own belongings. I would also love to have a child. That is my dream. After all that I have been through, I have seen that I had enormous strength to survive and will continue doing so. It can only get better from here,” she said.
IOL has embarked on a campaign called Elevate Her to highlight the plight of homeless women of South Africa. IOL is also collecting items for dignity packs to be distributed across the country. To get involved, email info@iol.co.za
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