Luvuyo and his wife have been feeding their five children from their farming practice deep in the forests of the Mtakatye river valley for over 12 years. A former schoolmate of mine, Luvuyo lost any hope of getting a job on the platinum mines when his father was retrenched in 2000. In despair, he went back home to the Wild Coast, where he fell into a life of "crime". Except his crimes have no known victims. Perhaps he himself is often a victim.Aged 40 now, Luvuyo has never had a formal job. His standard 8 (grade 10) education is not good enough for any employer. He spent the better part of seven years living in a shack and hostel compounds as a guest of his father in Rustenburg, vainly looking and hoping to crack a job at the platinum mines some 1,500km away from home.After harvesting hundreds of bags of marijuana, he does not have an easily accessible market to which he can hawk his produce. Instead he has to rely on his customers — dealers from the cities — to come and buy and col...
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