By Erick Mchome
The Citizen Reporter  
Johannesburg. For the curious and roving eye in Dar es Salam, there is something familiar on arriving in parts of Johannesburg, South Africa’s capital city.

Other than the apparently planned and clean streets, well paved roads and courteous motorists, a first time visitor from Bongoland would not fail to note some remote similarities. Meshed up in the teeming vehicular and human traffic in Johannesburg streets, are the occasional barber shops that are however a very common part of life in Dar es Salaam.

Tanzanian nationals who have moved down south in search of a living, are behind some of the barber shops and are helping spread the Dar culture in Johannesburg and other towns. Today, it is not surprising that they are competing  with Congolese as among preferred barbers in town.

While not as cozy as some of the barber shops you would find in middle-income locations like Sinza, they are the choice for majority black men whose growing interest is a boon for the service providers. For East Africans, the added advantage of humming to the latest Bongo Flava or Genge music hits is a smooth landing.    

Mooi, is one such street in Johannesburg, and Amazon hair cutting salon the place to reconnect with home; sweet home. Here you will find Mr Said Mohamed who, for four years, has settled doing what he does best ‑ shaving.

 The 28 year-old-Mohamed is just one among many Tanzanians eking out  a living in Johannesburg. He is among a large group of African  immigrants in the country. “I moved from Tanzania in search of better opportunities and I can’t complain. I am doing fine compared to when I was in Dar es Salaam,” he narrates.

Ready to hustle
When he arrived in Johannesburg, Mohamed did not know anyone. A three-day-bus trip from Dar es Salaam via Mozambique left him exhausted. His first night was spent on the streets, on a shop veranda.

“I was ready to suffer the consequences but I knew something would open up and I held on to the hope,” says Mohamed, who bumped into fellow Tanzanians two days later. They took and helped him run the ropes.  
“They assisted with accommodation and put me on a job trial as a barber. After three weeks I started earning my own money and I have not looked back since then.”

He is not the only one. Mark Kibira, 38, left Tanzania for Johannesburg 10 years ago. According to him, lack of job opportunities forced him to relocate.

 “After completing high school, I just stayed home doing nothing. I didn’t do well in the exams, and the income I earned from the menial jobs I did was very little,” says Kibira. A visiting friend enticed him to look south for greener pastures in Zulu land. The former Magomeni resident says he owes his success to the friend and others  who showed him around his new environment.

Almost every Tanzanian here  narrates  a different story on how they  made it and it was not a bed of roses always. If they don’t find it harder to leave their families at home, then they face hardships in the first days in this foreign land.  Tanzania’s communal history has come in handy for people like Mark and Kibira. It did not matter where one came from but once they met other citizens, it was always like a big family, says Alex Kaduguda, another barber at a salon along Bree Avenue I in Johannesburg.

The 37-year-old Kaduguda from Msasani says he will never forget how other Tanzanians rescued him from police detention after being caught with marijuana at his work place. He says the drugs had been left in a bag by a Nigerian friend.

Reports however indicate  that many immigrants in South Africa are there illegally and spend a better part of their time to ensure that they are not detected or foolish enough to sell themselves away.  The demeanour of Tanzanians favours them however, unlike those from, say, Nigeria or Zimbabwe.   

Few, if any cases involving Tanzanians, were reported during the xenophobia attacks in 2008. “Most of us do business that would not attract the wrath of the natives who feel immigrants are taking their jobs,” says Kibira.

Enjoying life
Most Tanzanians seem contented in South Africa. Some live in flats in Johannesburg’s city centre. They share rent and do not need to pay for transport to go to work.

The only regret they say is lack of support back home for those who would wish to send some money there. “Some friends have sent millions back for investments but found that the money was misused or embezzled altogether by dishonest relatives or friends,” explained a shop owner who declined to be identified.

Khamis Jumbe,  a 31-year-old father of one,  says however, that  those affected have recovered and went on with life. He is relatively new, having only arrived last year but has never been optimistic.   
“I generate an income that I was struggling to make back home,” says Jumbe, who was also a barber in Mbagala on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam. Today he runs his own salon.  
According to him, he saves R800 (Sh192,000) every month which he send to his mother in Dar es Salaam to foot the bills of his  three-year-old daughter. The same applies to Said Mbwana alias Side Boy. When he came to South Africa eight years ago, he started as a sweet vendor.

A new home
But today, Mr Bwana owns a retail shop along President Street in Johannesburg city centre. Though he does not want to reveal how much he makes from the business, he is comfortably supporting a family comprising a Xhosa wife and two sons.

“Here money circulates easily and only hard work determines what you take home,” says Bwana who has rented inside a 6-storey-building next to where his shop is.If it was not for robbers who attacked him three years ago, he would be far off, he enthuses. He now speaks fluent Zulu and Xhosa, but not English.

The language barrier bars many Tanzanians from obtaining jobs in restaurants and offices, unlike immigrants from Zimbabwe, Nigerian and Kenya.

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites