RAYMOND Perrier, director of the Dennis Hurley centre, eThekwini deputy mayor Belinda Scott, bookseller Vusi Meyiwa and Samantha Croft, director of operations at Tsogo Sun, visited homeless bookseller Vusi Meyiwa’s stall on the Durban beachfront yesterday. Doctor Ngcobo African News Agency ANA) RAYMOND Perrier, director of the Dennis Hurley centre, eThekwini deputy mayor Belinda Scott, bookseller Vusi Meyiwa and Samantha Croft, director of operations at Tsogo Sun, visited homeless bookseller Vusi Meyiwa’s stall on the Durban beachfront yesterday. Doctor Ngcobo African News Agency ANA)
Durban - THE eThekwini Municipality has provided homeless people with an opportunity to reap the economic benefit of the thousands of holidaymakers flocking to the city’s beaches this festive season.
The city has granted homeless booksellers, including Vusi Meyiwa, of the Street Lit (Street Literacy) programme based at the Dennis Hurley Centre, the chance to sell books outside the Durban Tourism office at the beachfront.
Meyiwa, 40, said he hoped to increase his book sales during the holidays.
“My day starts at 8am. I currently sell for four days a week but hopefully the municipality can allow me to sell on more days,” he said.
Meyiwa’s books range in price from R20 to R100 and comprise mostly bestsellers. Meyiwa, who is a James Patterson fan, says books are his passion.
“I love what I do. I get to meet tourists and hold meaningful conversations with people every day,” he said.
Meyiwa joined the programme when a friend, knowing about his love of books, told him about it.
Meyiwa said he had been interested to discover that homeless people bought more books than tourists did.
Dennis Hurley Centre director Raymond Perrier said the initiative was born after tourists complained about the high numbers of beggars and homeless people in the city.
“We thought of a plan to help eradicate this by creating employment.
“We found that 75% of South Africans are reading for pleasure and 25% are reading books, so we thought that we could also help with that,” he said.
For now, the centre has two people selling books along the promenade and it aims to make the booksellers a distinctive part of Durban just like the Rickshaw Bus.
The booksellers have also been trained to perform basic first aid in case of an emergency.
Deputy mayor Belinda Scott said she was committed to the cause of eradicating homelessness in the city as part of the Safer Cities initiative.
“As a city, we are committed to making a difference and to assisting people where we can. We’re opening a new shelter for women and children soon,” she said.
