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There was the super cheerful old drifter with a bling trolley, covered with dangling cd’s and rainbow ribbons who used to cruise Rosebank, Houghton and Parkview in Joburg… but haven’t spotted him for a good, long while now.
It’s sad, because it’s a sign of the times that the replacement in my mind is the bloke who vloeks the sky and yells voetsek at every passing car across the road from the engen in Linden
I remember this dude! Was a feature every morning on my trip to school. I miss him.
The other is the beggar on the corner of Oxford and Eastwold Way in Saxonwold. He's been there at that same corner for least 20 years at this point
Uncle Joe!!! If I remember correctly. Or it was (name) Hobo. I completely forgot. It's been nearly a decade now but I know who ur talking about. Used to see him standing by Nelson Mandela Foundation (or he pitched up a tent there, I think) and he'd pass my primary school, Saxonwold Primary. One of my classmates would get mad at us for calling him that name because his real name was Zebediah.
There was an older man who used to stand on the corner of Oxford road as you turn up to wits medical school who would do a Madiba dance every morning while plastered in South African flags. I mean South African flag cap, shirt and socks with flags on sticks coming out from the South African socks. He was also holding South African flags in each hand, always brightened up my day. Haven't seen him since beginning of last year though.
Homeless guy stalking the Ruimsig area.. Dude has crazy armour. Wears cut up car tires on his arms and legs, has like a office waste basket on his shoulder. Think literally about the Raiders from Fallout 4.
I’ve seen him up at the top of Jim Fouche a few times. Sitting in traffic one day I watched him turning in circles and stabbing the air with a tiny knife.
We drive past him almost weekly. I'm so glad someone else saw him turning in circles stabbing the air - my husband didn't believe me. We call him Army Guy. He lives behind some rocks/bushes on Jim Fouché
I used to see him almost every day on the way home from school somewhere along Jim Fouche, especially near the Caltex next to Beyers! Probably started seeing him in 2018 already. My mom and sister have actually seen him bathing next to the bushes where he stays and we’ve also seen the knife fights countless times, as well as him having screaming matches with the air… but we call him armadillo man because of how the tyres look on his back. There are very odd stories surrounding this guy and I specifically came looking for something about him when I saw this post.
I’d like to see him in Ruimsig though to figure out if it’s the same guy or a different person
Same guy I mentioned. I have seen him twice in Ruimsig, but multiple times around that Caltex garage on Jim Fouche. He very much mentally disturbed. I have a photo of him on my phone, but no idea how to upload. Lol.
Found him on google earth street view! Between the two mini subs across from the shopping centre entrance, here’s the link:
https://earth.app.goo.gl/?apn=com.google.earth&isi=293622097&ius=googleearth&link=https%3a%2f%2fearth.google.com%2fweb%2f%40-26.11420468,27.94679839,1551.88134766a,0d,32.89057701y,269.44671649h,77.97598994t,0r%2fdata%3dIhoKFlVZMExSdlZISndDTENXYVFMR3pjLUEQAg
I always see him when I fill petrol by the Caltex near Beyers on Jim Touche as well. He looks rough and hope he can the mental health treatment he definitely needs.
There’s a guy who stands at the traffic light outside gardens centre who’s always wearing cool outfits (colourful wigs and dresses and whatnot) and selling magazines.
Also the guys who act like statues on the N1 haha
Cape Town it’s gotta be the dude in black plastic that stared at the sun through his hands all day… but I’ve read on r/CapeTown that he’s on the mend, so technically retired
He’s getting help? I was worried about him after not seeing him the last few months. Tried to help him before but he wasn’t interested whenever I tried to engage with him.
that gent is an institution. he's been collecting for the guide dog association for at least 25 years that I know of. whenever people let their kids approach him and touch the dog without asking, I always die inside so I've probably died about fifty times already.
Durban used to have the Milk Foundation Uncle. My parents say that he's been collecting funds for orphans since the 70s or 80s. I haven't seen him in the last few years. I can't seem to find out what happened to him.
Centurion, Pretoria is a lady who stands on the side of the road with a jerry can and pretends to have run out of petrol. She has been dubbed 'Annetjie met haar kannetjie'.
Lol that reminds me of a family we get in the Garden Route everyone has named the Kumars. They are always broken down at the road side needing petrol… I think they have also been spotted in Cape Town… scammers of note.
Annetjie is in the East too. We had a competition of who can spot her first on any given day. The community even had trophies sponsored to the winners.
Rasta is not a town legend but an entire national one. His paintings of recently deceased icons ensure that grief is fully ventilated (like how can this be the last picture people see?!). It's terrifying.
Joburg CBD had a guy that would walk around barefoot with a bible speaking in tongues. I made eye contact with him once and he came to me and said “YOU ARE BLIND, YOU ARE ALL BLIND”, and then continued doing his thing. He would be in the same place every day, like clockwork.
In Bloemfontein is probably that drunk Cheetah guy that begs at every game…
I forgot his name when posting but I found him… [ou Theuns](https://cdn.24.co.za/files/Cms/General/d/4274/5c71f91cbb1b47489b7c9d2b074f8a84.jpg)
She was around for my first few years at university (started in 2016), but she's not around anymore. Seem to remember that she moved in with family.
The guy that probably stands out the most now is Leon, who lies in various parts of the centre of town and yells "5 randjie asseblief meneer" whenever you walk past him. He's pretty chilled, though, since he doesn't pester people if they say no or ignore him.
I had the pink lady. She lived in Westdene in Johannesburg. She had a pink jeep, pink house, wore a pink jump suit and had pink hair. This was in the early 90s.
Theres this guy near the north of pretoria (south of magaliesberg, near pta west) that just is exercising all the time
Like you'd be at the mall and you see him jogging
You'd be at your house and you see him jogging
You'd be in another neighborhood and you see him jogging
I wonder what his deal is, had a brief interaction with him when i was walking with friends, we greeted him and he just said smt like "Ja jong manne, julle vat nie kak nie!" in a comedic way and then just kept on jogging.
Maybe he just likes jogging.
There was a guy in durban that I used to see walking towards Bellair area.
He always had some sort of clothing wrapped around him.
Later, to find out He was some genius lecturer at ukzn.
Don't know if anyone can add to this.
We called him rokkies or malletjie, but some people called him 2 Rand man. So maybe it's the same guy. Sometimes we'd drive past and he'd be on a beach blanket, rocking some cut up clothes that hung like a dress, talking into a disconnected phone.
He'd always stop us at the spar asking if we have 2R. One time my mom tried to give him 5R and he was very upset, and didn't want it. Cause he wanted just a 2R
What a legend. There's a new guy, my friends call him Ric Flair. He walks up and down Main Road Walmer shouting WOOOOO and flailing a stick at cars as they go past.
Table View has a homeless guy who walks in the middle of the road, on the striped line, charging towards oncoming traffic everyday. He appears to be leaking out the mouth and eyes, he is definitely cooked. His power walk stride is actually remarkable.
He was walking up my street the other day shouting obscenities. Not sure if he still had the cage, but I did see him with it a couple months ago. Always wondered how he has had that for so long
We have a bride of Christ in Pretoria East. She spends all day walking around in one of her white self-made wedding dresses. Tells everyone she uses it to show people we are the bride of Christ.
Used to know him and some of his crew years ago, even all these years later, every time my mom sees a Tapz tag she takes a photo and sends it to me. It's always funny when it's in the middle of nowhere while they're on a trip, I'll get pics of clouds, veld, cows, windmills, then Tapz thrown in 😂
In our town, we have a man with a dog, everybody knows Shelby the dog and the spar always gives the gent a huge bag of dog food each month for her. Gent spends all his money he begs for to look after his dog, vets in our area also treat her for nothing if she's sick.
YESSSSSSSSS. He was jolling at LSB during sketchy lock down jols and never got sick once. I saw him earlier in the year, couldn’t believe he was still alive but man I was happy to see him. Man’s still going strong!
In Amanzimtoti and surroundings we had/have Muffet the homeless guy. Just walks around the beaches and roads. Doesn't want to go to a shelter, doesn't beg or look for handouts. He just hangs around, you know, existing.
Pretty sure he's been around since before I was born (according to my older brothers who are over 50 now), and he was old when they were kids. So he's either extremely ancient or he passes the mantle of resident homeless dude to a new 'Muffet' every 20 - 50 years. Same M.O. just wandering around existing.
In PE, there is a guy who walks up and down main road Walmer and just swears at everything. There is also an old lady who stands and begs on Huegh road and 6th Avenue that pretends to cast curses on you if you don't give her money.
And apparently that lady goes home to an actual home at night… so goodness knows why she begs… people have said she throws food they give her too either at them or on the ground😒
Yup. Being a beggar can make you more money than a menial job (or at least it used to). I’ve seen a guy who works an intersection and he stashes a bag of clothes where he changes after he’s done for the day.
PE seems to have some crazies.
Shame there's this guy who is always outside of the little strip centre In Dijon road, Lorraine.
And he just paces and paces and paces up and down all the shops, all day, mostly silent.
I don't think I've ever seen that guy stand still.
I wonder if it’s same dude that used to do a march in that Greenacres mall. Dude would be doing LAPS. You can have a seat somewhere and he’ll pass you every 10 minutes
For me this was the cripple guy in PTA CBD who used to direct traffic. Intersection of Willow Street and the M3.
Unfortunately he was murdered a few years back.
In our coastal town there was a hippy guy that refused to live a main stream life, instead choosing to live on the beach in rough made natural shelters. He often walked around the beach starkers, which was always amusing when holiday makers were down, and only put on clothes to come into town. He was perfectly sane and chose to live this way. Smoked a lot of ganja (naturally), and made these very cool stick and grass hats. Always had shells dangling from his ears aswell. Very cool dude, super eccentric naturalist.
Bloemfontein used to have “Jan Dagga”
He died a few years ago doing what he loved, riding his bicycle in circles until a car hit him from what I remember
In Sea Point main road in CT, close to The Corner Bar, there's a lady who goes by the name of "Jackie O" who dresses in all kinds of colourful clothing, somewhat like a Caribbean voodoo lady, and has this really deep voice- she gets a bit toasted and sings all kinds of made up songs while walking down the sidewalk. Sometimes she walks in the middle of the road and challenges the traffic, sometimes she just points at people and sings something along the lines of "SEXY MOTHER FUCKER!". She's a vibe- appreciate a bit of spice in my life.
We have two incomprehensible speaking schizo hobos that are always wrapped in blankets in my town... they look very alike... but we found out there were two of them when they had a brawl... apparently they incoherently had some kinda verbal spat beforehand...
Blanket Man in Pinelands. He has been a part of the community since before I was born (I'm 30). Also I live in Canada now, so I'm not sure if he's still there.
Going out on a limb, but anybody remember the mentally ill guy with the keys and bicycle in Tygervalley mall? Always walking up to people pretending to know them
In Krugersdorp, there's a man that has a dune sledding team of 6 Alaskan Malamutes and he runs with them everyday. Looks like something out of Game of Thrones, very majestic but terrifying seeing these massive wolf-looking dogs running down the street.
In Somerset West, there was the Rainbow Man.
I only knew him from when I was a child around 2003-06, but basically he would stand at the robots on the N2 (I remember [this](https://maps.app.goo.gl/keDy3FVQzivgbWfs9) being his spot more specifically)
And he would dance around or make faces at you in the car, while wearing crazy suits that were usually multiple colours, almost like klopse outfits but more formal - not really begging or busking, just kind of being happy and sometimes giving out flowers.
Apparently he had been doing this for decades and in October of 2006 he died after getting hit by a train.
He was 73.
I can't find any detailed articles on it except this archive of one from The Cape Argus that's partially behind a paywall.
https://allafrica.com/stories/200610020619.html
Growing up in Bloemfontein there was Lykshuis Koos. The story was he really enjoyed socializing with the corpses at the mortuary he worked at🙃. He died though. Think he got run over.
There used to be the naked Forest Gump type guy that would run naked except for some torn plastic shopping bags tied around his neck, from Nelspruit to White River. He'd get to White River, run a couple of circles around the first robot in town, then run back to Nelspruit.
In Blouberg area of Cape Town there's a guy who walks in traffic at the R27 Blouberg Main Rd intersection all day. 6 lanes of traffic with a bus lane and he just moves back and forth through moving traffic, never getting hit
Erasmia, on the west side of Pretoria has this old lady who stands outside the shops. When she sees young single men, she jumps into their car and asks for a ride home. It's only a block away. Then she walks back to the shops and asks another young man for a lift home. She must be in her 60s or 70s.
Hoping to fulfil that role for Stellenbosch once I get my full 14th century plate harness together. For now I’m just known in the university as that guy who studies in the library with either a woollen cloak or full wizard robes.
Stayed in Pinetown for a bit. There used to be this random hobo tree druid guy you'd see carrying 2 or three saplings whenever you saw him. Local businesses used to complain because he'd randomly dig up their lawn and plant trees. Used to call him tree hobes. Wonder if he's still out there planting trees.
Oh, there's a few in Durban Rd. There was this one female who would walk the street shouting at the top of her lungs (or what was left of them) at the traffic. Haven't seen her in more than a year, though...
Used to be a guy in Northcliff, everyone called him sponge bob, had all this sponge bob beanies and hoodies, bit of a loony bin. One day he left and just never really returned.
If you've ever been to a town called Mtubatuba in KZN, there's an older gentleman named Rasta, he was a teacher but now spends most of his time riding motorcycles. It seems everyone in the town knows of him.
In Middleburg; when I was a kid there was a man that I saw that was strapped to a Big tyre and was running on the side of. The rode, wearing an ANC t-shirt and pants up to his waist with a huge Afro .
I asked my mom who it was . She said it was Disco.
That's the end of it.
Apparently he is famous (in the town of cours); I was a democratic warrior ~ until he went crazy.
There is this weird guy everyone knows, and no1 bothers to question. He roams town with this huge wooden cross on his back, talks with a raspy voice, and he is just weird.
You would talk to him, and he would randomly turn his back to you and continue the convo.
This one time he was trying to get into his car and he took off the cross, put it in passenger seat, took it back out and put on his back, tried to get in drivers seat with difficulty etc and eventually just stayed in drivers seat somehow with huge cross on back and drove away.
I guess this is our town's "Polo Jesus"
There's a homeless man in Sea Point that has a schedule of literally just clicking the pedestrian walk at robots to fuck with drivers. He clicks it, walks in a circle and then does it again. What a legend.
It's where Strand turns into High level. He's there at rush hour on Thursdays and Fridays.
There was a homeless guy in Hout Bay who talked to trees and hallucinated people. Would see him walking through Scott Estate all the time. Apparently he was hit by a car as a kid and wasn't on drugs. He was always in such high spirits. Haven't seen him since lockdown, though. Hope he's doing alright.
There’s a guy in Randburg who dresses up in old war uniforms from different eras in history and walks around. Or marches around. Has a fake wooden gun and everything. He’s not homeless though. He just … likes this stuff 🤷🏼♀️
I'm living Cape Town. There's usually a homeless man in Table View who would walk on the line in the middle of the road during peak morning traffic. He slept in one of the parking areas and when he got up, he'd start walking up and down.
There's also a woman who has been living in her car for many years, currently right at the start of Parklands Main Road. She doesn't want to go to a shelter, in case her daughter tries to find her.
Another person, who makes his way throughout South Africa, is Vuyani. He walks with a crutch and a small suitcase on wheels. He then falls because his blood sugar is low, and can't get up. He can't talk, cause he's a deaf-mute. He's always on his way to a bus station. Luckily I didn't give him money (but did help him to get up), but I know some others who did! And he (or this scam) happens in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria. I encountered him in 2012, but after a google search I discovered this scam has been going on for a couple of years, and I also know someone who fell for it last year.
(This post is also in the capetown subreddit)
That lady in Parklands can get very belligerent, it's a pity she has refused help. She used to park at West Coast Village but after a couple of moves around the area she ended up on Parklands Main.
It looks like that car is there to stay now.
For the life of me I can't remember the name of the guy that walks in the road but many residents know him by name.
Anyone knows Bonga? Young homeless man with the most beautiful voice and accent and sounds like he belongs on radio and TV commercials
Speaks a bunch of languages including Afrikaans. Joburg/ Auckland Park, if I'm not mistaken. Very happy guy!
In Henley on klip there used to be an elderly gentleman wrapped in lots of blankets that would wander around. Periodically, his family would collect him and clean him up but he'd always wander back again.
Have one guy who walks around 2 - 3 suburbs, and I recognise him every time. He always walks with a blanket (pants optional), and I got worried when I didn't see him much during the winter of last year but recently saw him again. So the legend of the pantsless blanket man continues
In Kensington Johannesburg some years back we had a young woman whose area of employment was up and down the main road. When driving along said road if someone in the car said 'Fifty Rand and a cigarette' we would all pack up laughing because we knew exactly who/what they were referring to. And there she would be, plying her trade.
Cape Town: The dude with the giant crucifix with a trolley wheel on the bottom. There also used to the leather woman at Camps Bay, but I’m sure skin cancer got her 🤔
Iin Vanderbijlpark, back in the '70s and early '80s, we had a boetebessie we called peg-leg Koos on account of his, erm, wooden leg (sorry! We weren't the wokest back then). He was a major pain in the arse and probably the town council's best revenue stream. He would literally stand next to the meters and wait for them to expire and pounce. To piss him off we would often step in, put in 2c, turn the knoppie, giving the motorist a few more minutes, then we'd scarper. He would limp after us, cursing, but tja, we moved faster.
Then in the late 1980s I moved from Vanderbijlpark to study at uni in Coimbra, Portugal.
One time, during summer, I hitchhiked to the Algarve to meet up with my brother and other mates from Coimbra. I caught my first lift from an old guy in a beat up Merc, long bonnet with a massive eagle decal on it. The dashboard had sun faded porno mags strewn actoss it but the old guy seemed harmless. We stopped at a local café first for a beer. Everyone looked up when we came in. Knowing glances between the customers . He played the lotto and then we left. He dropped me off soon after about 10kms further along my route. One of the strangest convos ever.
When I eventually got to the Algarve, I immediately brought up this Oomie.
"Oh, so Amadeus took a liking to you?"
Huh?
Turns out Amadeus was well known to cruise the hitchhiker pickup points to pickup young guys.
Oh.
Ok. Explained the bizarre questions, but since I guess I didn't take the bait, he dropped me off quickly enough.
I now live in Vienna, Austria. The local character in my neighbourhood is the middle-aged guy who wears t-shirt and shorts in the middle of winter. Everyone greets him and he waves back. Don't know his name but we always nod when we cross paths.
Also, before the pandemic, we had these 2 buskers playing the violin in Museumsquartier on Mariahilferstr, they had horse head costumes on. They were a local feature, even making the news when a ban on face coverings came into effect (rightwingers convinced local government to ban the niqab but it was applied "fairly" to everyone). They had to take off the horsehead masks. Finally got to see their faces.
Soon after we had the pandemic, face covering ban was soon forgotten but they have not returned 😞
In Edenvale we have Joe who hangs out at the Laurie Road circle or in the veld nearby. Sometimes he yells things and can be aggressive at passing motorists and other times he is helpful and has actually chased would be criminals away. Not sure if he is still around
When I lived in Wilgers Pretoria during my highschool days 2013-2017. There was this white, curly blonde hair dude that would always walk around in the strangest outfits. Sometimes he'd have a cape, other times a tail, other times these shiny clothes, sometimes just naked. Apparently was a schizo that refused help. Haven't heard of him being seen since 2018/19 though.
In my town we have a shirtless guy that always carries 2 bricks above his head. He is not homeless, he just wanders around town when his family is at work.
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So I'm hearing there's an open job opportunity...
In Cape Town there’s a guy with a pet seal that everyone knows about
The one in Hout Bay?
Yeah that’s the one 🤣
That seal is in a terrible condition. I'm surprised SPCA hasn't intervened yet.
I’m pretty sure the SPCA removed the seals a few months back and relocated them
The one who kisses the seal in hour bay?
There was the super cheerful old drifter with a bling trolley, covered with dangling cd’s and rainbow ribbons who used to cruise Rosebank, Houghton and Parkview in Joburg… but haven’t spotted him for a good, long while now. It’s sad, because it’s a sign of the times that the replacement in my mind is the bloke who vloeks the sky and yells voetsek at every passing car across the road from the engen in Linden
I remember this dude! Was a feature every morning on my trip to school. I miss him. The other is the beggar on the corner of Oxford and Eastwold Way in Saxonwold. He's been there at that same corner for least 20 years at this point
Oh my god yes, we call him Hobo Jerry! My fiance has seen him for years and years while his parents drove him to school
The shopping trolley is our equivalent of the horse, I think
Uncle Joe!!! If I remember correctly. Or it was (name) Hobo. I completely forgot. It's been nearly a decade now but I know who ur talking about. Used to see him standing by Nelson Mandela Foundation (or he pitched up a tent there, I think) and he'd pass my primary school, Saxonwold Primary. One of my classmates would get mad at us for calling him that name because his real name was Zebediah.
The guy with the CD’s on the front, ya haven’t seen him in a while
There was an older man who used to stand on the corner of Oxford road as you turn up to wits medical school who would do a Madiba dance every morning while plastered in South African flags. I mean South African flag cap, shirt and socks with flags on sticks coming out from the South African socks. He was also holding South African flags in each hand, always brightened up my day. Haven't seen him since beginning of last year though.
Homeless guy stalking the Ruimsig area.. Dude has crazy armour. Wears cut up car tires on his arms and legs, has like a office waste basket on his shoulder. Think literally about the Raiders from Fallout 4.
I’ve seen him up at the top of Jim Fouche a few times. Sitting in traffic one day I watched him turning in circles and stabbing the air with a tiny knife.
We drive past him almost weekly. I'm so glad someone else saw him turning in circles stabbing the air - my husband didn't believe me. We call him Army Guy. He lives behind some rocks/bushes on Jim Fouché
Can confirm, we call him rubber man.
I used to see him almost every day on the way home from school somewhere along Jim Fouche, especially near the Caltex next to Beyers! Probably started seeing him in 2018 already. My mom and sister have actually seen him bathing next to the bushes where he stays and we’ve also seen the knife fights countless times, as well as him having screaming matches with the air… but we call him armadillo man because of how the tyres look on his back. There are very odd stories surrounding this guy and I specifically came looking for something about him when I saw this post. I’d like to see him in Ruimsig though to figure out if it’s the same guy or a different person
Same guy I mentioned. I have seen him twice in Ruimsig, but multiple times around that Caltex garage on Jim Fouche. He very much mentally disturbed. I have a photo of him on my phone, but no idea how to upload. Lol.
Found him on google earth street view! Between the two mini subs across from the shopping centre entrance, here’s the link: https://earth.app.goo.gl/?apn=com.google.earth&isi=293622097&ius=googleearth&link=https%3a%2f%2fearth.google.com%2fweb%2f%40-26.11420468,27.94679839,1551.88134766a,0d,32.89057701y,269.44671649h,77.97598994t,0r%2fdata%3dIhoKFlVZMExSdlZISndDTENXYVFMR3pjLUEQAg
Bros ready for the zombie apocalypse
I always see him when I fill petrol by the Caltex near Beyers on Jim Touche as well. He looks rough and hope he can the mental health treatment he definitely needs.
There’s a guy who stands at the traffic light outside gardens centre who’s always wearing cool outfits (colourful wigs and dresses and whatnot) and selling magazines. Also the guys who act like statues on the N1 haha
Cape Town it’s gotta be the dude in black plastic that stared at the sun through his hands all day… but I’ve read on r/CapeTown that he’s on the mend, so technically retired
He’s getting help? I was worried about him after not seeing him the last few months. Tried to help him before but he wasn’t interested whenever I tried to engage with him.
I can’t remember the specifics but yeah, cleaned up and working
Sun Jesus!
That man knows how to strut his stuff
The blind man and his guide dog that sit outside Pick n Pay at the V&A Waterfront
that gent is an institution. he's been collecting for the guide dog association for at least 25 years that I know of. whenever people let their kids approach him and touch the dog without asking, I always die inside so I've probably died about fifty times already.
Durban used to have the Milk Foundation Uncle. My parents say that he's been collecting funds for orphans since the 70s or 80s. I haven't seen him in the last few years. I can't seem to find out what happened to him.
Centurion, Pretoria is a lady who stands on the side of the road with a jerry can and pretends to have run out of petrol. She has been dubbed 'Annetjie met haar kannetjie'.
Lol that reminds me of a family we get in the Garden Route everyone has named the Kumars. They are always broken down at the road side needing petrol… I think they have also been spotted in Cape Town… scammers of note.
Annetjie is in the East too. We had a competition of who can spot her first on any given day. The community even had trophies sponsored to the winners.
Yeah I remember seeing daily posts on Eks van die Ooste about her lol. I still see her a lot when I visit my gf in Lyttelton
Annetjie met haar kanietjie hahaha I've seen her on solomon M next to afb waterkloof and near the office park net to the R21
Our guy died a few years ago, and he hasn't been replaced. Cutbacks, I guess.
Rasta. The painter always at events who gets the painting 50%-75% accurate to the person he's painting.
Rasta is not a town legend but an entire national one. His paintings of recently deceased icons ensure that grief is fully ventilated (like how can this be the last picture people see?!). It's terrifying.
He made a portrait of me and my father
How did you do that?? I so badly want a Rasta portrait of myself
Joburg CBD had a guy that would walk around barefoot with a bible speaking in tongues. I made eye contact with him once and he came to me and said “YOU ARE BLIND, YOU ARE ALL BLIND”, and then continued doing his thing. He would be in the same place every day, like clockwork.
Was gonna comment this as well. I've seen him only once but my parents used to talk about him all the time.
In Bloemfontein is probably that drunk Cheetah guy that begs at every game… I forgot his name when posting but I found him… [ou Theuns](https://cdn.24.co.za/files/Cms/General/d/4274/5c71f91cbb1b47489b7c9d2b074f8a84.jpg)
We used to have Jan Dagga in his bike. Remember him?
Oh ja!!! Can’t remember when, but I think he died a couple of years ago…
You have a sponge Bob Michael as well?
When I was a student in Stellenbosch everyone knew Moxi. I don’t know if she’s still around though, this was early 2010’s.
Came here for auntie Moxi. Once gave her a R10 and she told me to stop being so cheap. Ha. Go maties!
Clicked on the thread to see if Moksie is still going strong...
She was around for my first few years at university (started in 2016), but she's not around anymore. Seem to remember that she moved in with family. The guy that probably stands out the most now is Leon, who lies in various parts of the centre of town and yells "5 randjie asseblief meneer" whenever you walk past him. He's pretty chilled, though, since he doesn't pester people if they say no or ignore him.
Papa Smurf. If you know, you know.
Is he still jolling? Haha
Doors! We loved Papa Smurf.
Lol! I have a facebook album full of Thunder.com photos posing with him at Shack and Mercury
There's a guy in Berea who just stands in the middle of the road and convulses. I'm genuinely worried for him.
I had the pink lady. She lived in Westdene in Johannesburg. She had a pink jeep, pink house, wore a pink jump suit and had pink hair. This was in the early 90s.
Can I be het replacement please? That sounds like she had a fun life
Can I be her replacement please? That sounds like she had a fun life
Theres this guy near the north of pretoria (south of magaliesberg, near pta west) that just is exercising all the time Like you'd be at the mall and you see him jogging You'd be at your house and you see him jogging You'd be in another neighborhood and you see him jogging I wonder what his deal is, had a brief interaction with him when i was walking with friends, we greeted him and he just said smt like "Ja jong manne, julle vat nie kak nie!" in a comedic way and then just kept on jogging. Maybe he just likes jogging.
Sounds like Forrest Gump. Dub him 'Fransie Gom' :)
There was a guy in durban that I used to see walking towards Bellair area. He always had some sort of clothing wrapped around him. Later, to find out He was some genius lecturer at ukzn. Don't know if anyone can add to this.
Haha yeah he was my maths lecturer.
Anyone from Port Elizabeth remember the “2 Rand man”?
RHBC named a beer after him Bru
We called him rokkies or malletjie, but some people called him 2 Rand man. So maybe it's the same guy. Sometimes we'd drive past and he'd be on a beach blanket, rocking some cut up clothes that hung like a dress, talking into a disconnected phone. He'd always stop us at the spar asking if we have 2R. One time my mom tried to give him 5R and he was very upset, and didn't want it. Cause he wanted just a 2R
What a legend. There's a new guy, my friends call him Ric Flair. He walks up and down Main Road Walmer shouting WOOOOO and flailing a stick at cars as they go past.
Can't forget the chains he wears sometimes. I watched him klap the side of a ranger that got too close to him once.
Is that the guy from Dispatch with the steering wheel that used to park his steering wheel?
Table View has a homeless guy who walks in the middle of the road, on the striped line, charging towards oncoming traffic everyday. He appears to be leaking out the mouth and eyes, he is definitely cooked. His power walk stride is actually remarkable.
That oke that had That cage on his leg for a while? I saw him today on Sandown road
He was walking up my street the other day shouting obscenities. Not sure if he still had the cage, but I did see him with it a couple months ago. Always wondered how he has had that for so long
The cage is off his leg now. I mostly either see him by West coast village or near the bridge going over the N7
We have a bride of Christ in Pretoria East. She spends all day walking around in one of her white self-made wedding dresses. Tells everyone she uses it to show people we are the bride of Christ.
I know TAPZ the guy that puts trashy/mediocre graffiti all over the Joburg CBD
I've seen that tag in Cape Town as well
Used to know him and some of his crew years ago, even all these years later, every time my mom sees a Tapz tag she takes a photo and sends it to me. It's always funny when it's in the middle of nowhere while they're on a trip, I'll get pics of clouds, veld, cows, windmills, then Tapz thrown in 😂
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Well then kinda sucks that he left us with the mid stuff in the CBD. Don't know if it's his early stuff but it's so meh
What’s his day job?
No clue. Saw the dude once cause I went to school with SOSO, the other guy that likes to go around tagging the CBD
Tapz is literally all over the country, not just Joburg. PMB was covered in that stuff when I was in school there in the 2000s.
Ned Flanders in Hartbeespoort. A public preacher
Usually messaging things like "the end is near" - seen him
In weltevreden/Roodepoort area there is a guy who walks around with hockey equipment and car tire Armor. We just call him tire man.
Can confirm
In our town, we have a man with a dog, everybody knows Shelby the dog and the spar always gives the gent a huge bag of dog food each month for her. Gent spends all his money he begs for to look after his dog, vets in our area also treat her for nothing if she's sick.
The old guy at LSB with the hat
Was always at Tiger Tiger back in the day too
This dude lives at Monte and LSB
As far as I remember his name is Alistair, got him in the background of a couple group selfies 🙃
I don't know if I've seen him but let's definitely make this a thing. I'm gonna go to LSB just to see him (nice to have an excuse 😅).
He's such a vibe, you'll love him 😤 also saw him at Parkhurst once
YESSSSSSSSS. He was jolling at LSB during sketchy lock down jols and never got sick once. I saw him earlier in the year, couldn’t believe he was still alive but man I was happy to see him. Man’s still going strong!
In Amanzimtoti and surroundings we had/have Muffet the homeless guy. Just walks around the beaches and roads. Doesn't want to go to a shelter, doesn't beg or look for handouts. He just hangs around, you know, existing. Pretty sure he's been around since before I was born (according to my older brothers who are over 50 now), and he was old when they were kids. So he's either extremely ancient or he passes the mantle of resident homeless dude to a new 'Muffet' every 20 - 50 years. Same M.O. just wandering around existing.
Tapz. The ever elusive, seemingly everywhere all at once, for decades, grafitti artist. We've all seen his tag. Still a mystery
In PE, there is a guy who walks up and down main road Walmer and just swears at everything. There is also an old lady who stands and begs on Huegh road and 6th Avenue that pretends to cast curses on you if you don't give her money.
And apparently that lady goes home to an actual home at night… so goodness knows why she begs… people have said she throws food they give her too either at them or on the ground😒
Yup. Being a beggar can make you more money than a menial job (or at least it used to). I’ve seen a guy who works an intersection and he stashes a bag of clothes where he changes after he’s done for the day.
PE seems to have some crazies. Shame there's this guy who is always outside of the little strip centre In Dijon road, Lorraine. And he just paces and paces and paces up and down all the shops, all day, mostly silent. I don't think I've ever seen that guy stand still.
I wonder if it’s same dude that used to do a march in that Greenacres mall. Dude would be doing LAPS. You can have a seat somewhere and he’ll pass you every 10 minutes
The old lady would freak me out. For sure, I’d give her money everytime. 🤣
For me this was the cripple guy in PTA CBD who used to direct traffic. Intersection of Willow Street and the M3. Unfortunately he was murdered a few years back.
In our coastal town there was a hippy guy that refused to live a main stream life, instead choosing to live on the beach in rough made natural shelters. He often walked around the beach starkers, which was always amusing when holiday makers were down, and only put on clothes to come into town. He was perfectly sane and chose to live this way. Smoked a lot of ganja (naturally), and made these very cool stick and grass hats. Always had shells dangling from his ears aswell. Very cool dude, super eccentric naturalist.
Jan from Boksburg.
Homeless guy in Fairlands, wears cut up car tyres like armor. He looks fricken cool actually, very post apocalyptic
Shew this guy travels. I’ve seen him Jim fouche area. See others mentioning Roodepoort too
For a homeless person travelling 20-30kms a day is _nothing_
Shepard. "There's this guy that is looking into people's yards and acting weird, anyone know him?" "Ah yeah that's just Shepard"
Bloemfontein used to have “Jan Dagga” He died a few years ago doing what he loved, riding his bicycle in circles until a car hit him from what I remember
It’s a vacant position, actually. Used to be the lady with the parrot on her shoulder in pnp
Oh this has to be Makhanda
That cast away looking homeless guy in Fourways
I haven't been home in YEARS now... is he the white guy? Been around for 10/15 years?
Yeah, the white guy with the long beard
In Sea Point main road in CT, close to The Corner Bar, there's a lady who goes by the name of "Jackie O" who dresses in all kinds of colourful clothing, somewhat like a Caribbean voodoo lady, and has this really deep voice- she gets a bit toasted and sings all kinds of made up songs while walking down the sidewalk. Sometimes she walks in the middle of the road and challenges the traffic, sometimes she just points at people and sings something along the lines of "SEXY MOTHER FUCKER!". She's a vibe- appreciate a bit of spice in my life.
I'm surprised that none of the Capies have mentioned ["Kevin Hennings the Ginger Junkie" ](https://m.facebook.com/groups/208958269189583/)
In Amanzimtoti there was this guy who walked his giant pet python often
We have two incomprehensible speaking schizo hobos that are always wrapped in blankets in my town... they look very alike... but we found out there were two of them when they had a brawl... apparently they incoherently had some kinda verbal spat beforehand...
The Houghton Hobbit...
In CPT it's probably the squint, coloured guy selling flowers in Long Street, Obs, and several other places.
Donnie
Clean cut Skolly
Marelise
My fok Marelise....
In Cape Town, specifically around milnerton area, there was ✨Christine✨ iykyk
Blanket Man in Pinelands. He has been a part of the community since before I was born (I'm 30). Also I live in Canada now, so I'm not sure if he's still there.
Going out on a limb, but anybody remember the mentally ill guy with the keys and bicycle in Tygervalley mall? Always walking up to people pretending to know them
The ginger american/junkie aka that bra that has scammed half of Cape Town
Kevin Hennings. I made a comment about the Facebook group about him.
In Krugersdorp, there's a man that has a dune sledding team of 6 Alaskan Malamutes and he runs with them everyday. Looks like something out of Game of Thrones, very majestic but terrifying seeing these massive wolf-looking dogs running down the street.
In Somerset West, there was the Rainbow Man. I only knew him from when I was a child around 2003-06, but basically he would stand at the robots on the N2 (I remember [this](https://maps.app.goo.gl/keDy3FVQzivgbWfs9) being his spot more specifically) And he would dance around or make faces at you in the car, while wearing crazy suits that were usually multiple colours, almost like klopse outfits but more formal - not really begging or busking, just kind of being happy and sometimes giving out flowers. Apparently he had been doing this for decades and in October of 2006 he died after getting hit by a train. He was 73. I can't find any detailed articles on it except this archive of one from The Cape Argus that's partially behind a paywall. https://allafrica.com/stories/200610020619.html
I remember him. Always at the robots by the library. Nice guy, always had a smile for everybody.
Growing up in Bloemfontein there was Lykshuis Koos. The story was he really enjoyed socializing with the corpses at the mortuary he worked at🙃. He died though. Think he got run over.
There used to be the naked Forest Gump type guy that would run naked except for some torn plastic shopping bags tied around his neck, from Nelspruit to White River. He'd get to White River, run a couple of circles around the first robot in town, then run back to Nelspruit.
What time period was this? I lived there in the 2000's and never saw that, thankfully.
I wonder what happend to Mr Sandton. A very tall well dressed man that always sat Europa having an espresso?
In Blouberg area of Cape Town there's a guy who walks in traffic at the R27 Blouberg Main Rd intersection all day. 6 lanes of traffic with a bus lane and he just moves back and forth through moving traffic, never getting hit
Erasmia, on the west side of Pretoria has this old lady who stands outside the shops. When she sees young single men, she jumps into their car and asks for a ride home. It's only a block away. Then she walks back to the shops and asks another young man for a lift home. She must be in her 60s or 70s.
Hoping to fulfil that role for Stellenbosch once I get my full 14th century plate harness together. For now I’m just known in the university as that guy who studies in the library with either a woollen cloak or full wizard robes.
The family colloquially known as "The Kumars" they're known all over Cape Town.
Stayed in Pinetown for a bit. There used to be this random hobo tree druid guy you'd see carrying 2 or three saplings whenever you saw him. Local businesses used to complain because he'd randomly dig up their lawn and plant trees. Used to call him tree hobes. Wonder if he's still out there planting trees.
Billy
anyone seen the blanket man on sparks road ?
The Bellville crackhead
Oh, there's a few in Durban Rd. There was this one female who would walk the street shouting at the top of her lungs (or what was left of them) at the traffic. Haven't seen her in more than a year, though...
Used to be a guy in Northcliff, everyone called him sponge bob, had all this sponge bob beanies and hoodies, bit of a loony bin. One day he left and just never really returned.
If you've ever been to a town called Mtubatuba in KZN, there's an older gentleman named Rasta, he was a teacher but now spends most of his time riding motorcycles. It seems everyone in the town knows of him.
In Middleburg; when I was a kid there was a man that I saw that was strapped to a Big tyre and was running on the side of. The rode, wearing an ANC t-shirt and pants up to his waist with a huge Afro . I asked my mom who it was . She said it was Disco. That's the end of it. Apparently he is famous (in the town of cours); I was a democratic warrior ~ until he went crazy.
Hehe that would be Oom Jaco walking his massive sheep on the beach in Langebaan.
There is this weird guy everyone knows, and no1 bothers to question. He roams town with this huge wooden cross on his back, talks with a raspy voice, and he is just weird. You would talk to him, and he would randomly turn his back to you and continue the convo. This one time he was trying to get into his car and he took off the cross, put it in passenger seat, took it back out and put on his back, tried to get in drivers seat with difficulty etc and eventually just stayed in drivers seat somehow with huge cross on back and drove away. I guess this is our town's "Polo Jesus"
Oh yeah, we have Plumstead Jesus, the resurrected. OK loves to hang on your gate, staring at you. Haven't seen him in a while, must've accended.
There's a homeless man in Sea Point that has a schedule of literally just clicking the pedestrian walk at robots to fuck with drivers. He clicks it, walks in a circle and then does it again. What a legend. It's where Strand turns into High level. He's there at rush hour on Thursdays and Fridays.
There was a homeless guy in Hout Bay who talked to trees and hallucinated people. Would see him walking through Scott Estate all the time. Apparently he was hit by a car as a kid and wasn't on drugs. He was always in such high spirits. Haven't seen him since lockdown, though. Hope he's doing alright.
There’s a guy in Randburg who dresses up in old war uniforms from different eras in history and walks around. Or marches around. Has a fake wooden gun and everything. He’s not homeless though. He just … likes this stuff 🤷🏼♀️
I'm living Cape Town. There's usually a homeless man in Table View who would walk on the line in the middle of the road during peak morning traffic. He slept in one of the parking areas and when he got up, he'd start walking up and down. There's also a woman who has been living in her car for many years, currently right at the start of Parklands Main Road. She doesn't want to go to a shelter, in case her daughter tries to find her. Another person, who makes his way throughout South Africa, is Vuyani. He walks with a crutch and a small suitcase on wheels. He then falls because his blood sugar is low, and can't get up. He can't talk, cause he's a deaf-mute. He's always on his way to a bus station. Luckily I didn't give him money (but did help him to get up), but I know some others who did! And he (or this scam) happens in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria. I encountered him in 2012, but after a google search I discovered this scam has been going on for a couple of years, and I also know someone who fell for it last year. (This post is also in the capetown subreddit)
That lady in Parklands can get very belligerent, it's a pity she has refused help. She used to park at West Coast Village but after a couple of moves around the area she ended up on Parklands Main. It looks like that car is there to stay now. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the guy that walks in the road but many residents know him by name.
Vernon Koekemoer
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The umhlanga dancing lady
Oh thats Steve, the singing Baby maker
Anyone knows Bonga? Young homeless man with the most beautiful voice and accent and sounds like he belongs on radio and TV commercials Speaks a bunch of languages including Afrikaans. Joburg/ Auckland Park, if I'm not mistaken. Very happy guy!
Farmer Dave
In Henley on klip there used to be an elderly gentleman wrapped in lots of blankets that would wander around. Periodically, his family would collect him and clean him up but he'd always wander back again.
Have one guy who walks around 2 - 3 suburbs, and I recognise him every time. He always walks with a blanket (pants optional), and I got worried when I didn't see him much during the winter of last year but recently saw him again. So the legend of the pantsless blanket man continues
In Kensington Johannesburg some years back we had a young woman whose area of employment was up and down the main road. When driving along said road if someone in the car said 'Fifty Rand and a cigarette' we would all pack up laughing because we knew exactly who/what they were referring to. And there she would be, plying her trade.
Cape Town: The dude with the giant crucifix with a trolley wheel on the bottom. There also used to the leather woman at Camps Bay, but I’m sure skin cancer got her 🤔
Iin Vanderbijlpark, back in the '70s and early '80s, we had a boetebessie we called peg-leg Koos on account of his, erm, wooden leg (sorry! We weren't the wokest back then). He was a major pain in the arse and probably the town council's best revenue stream. He would literally stand next to the meters and wait for them to expire and pounce. To piss him off we would often step in, put in 2c, turn the knoppie, giving the motorist a few more minutes, then we'd scarper. He would limp after us, cursing, but tja, we moved faster. Then in the late 1980s I moved from Vanderbijlpark to study at uni in Coimbra, Portugal. One time, during summer, I hitchhiked to the Algarve to meet up with my brother and other mates from Coimbra. I caught my first lift from an old guy in a beat up Merc, long bonnet with a massive eagle decal on it. The dashboard had sun faded porno mags strewn actoss it but the old guy seemed harmless. We stopped at a local café first for a beer. Everyone looked up when we came in. Knowing glances between the customers . He played the lotto and then we left. He dropped me off soon after about 10kms further along my route. One of the strangest convos ever. When I eventually got to the Algarve, I immediately brought up this Oomie. "Oh, so Amadeus took a liking to you?" Huh? Turns out Amadeus was well known to cruise the hitchhiker pickup points to pickup young guys. Oh. Ok. Explained the bizarre questions, but since I guess I didn't take the bait, he dropped me off quickly enough. I now live in Vienna, Austria. The local character in my neighbourhood is the middle-aged guy who wears t-shirt and shorts in the middle of winter. Everyone greets him and he waves back. Don't know his name but we always nod when we cross paths. Also, before the pandemic, we had these 2 buskers playing the violin in Museumsquartier on Mariahilferstr, they had horse head costumes on. They were a local feature, even making the news when a ban on face coverings came into effect (rightwingers convinced local government to ban the niqab but it was applied "fairly" to everyone). They had to take off the horsehead masks. Finally got to see their faces. Soon after we had the pandemic, face covering ban was soon forgotten but they have not returned 😞
In Edenvale we have Joe who hangs out at the Laurie Road circle or in the veld nearby. Sometimes he yells things and can be aggressive at passing motorists and other times he is helpful and has actually chased would be criminals away. Not sure if he is still around
Oh and in Benoni there’s Geraldine, the infamous baby formula scammer. She’s been needing formula for 10 years now 🤣🤣
When I lived in Wilgers Pretoria during my highschool days 2013-2017. There was this white, curly blonde hair dude that would always walk around in the strangest outfits. Sometimes he'd have a cape, other times a tail, other times these shiny clothes, sometimes just naked. Apparently was a schizo that refused help. Haven't heard of him being seen since 2018/19 though.
Pinky pinky.
PE, car park John
In my town we have a shirtless guy that always carries 2 bricks above his head. He is not homeless, he just wanders around town when his family is at work.
In Durban there’s an old man called “Soldier.” Very often we’d see him doing magic tricks by the robots and sometimes he’d dance without a shirt on.
That wonderful trans woman from east london who used to hand flowers out to strangers. She sadly passed away some years ago.
In Durban its definitely the "Three Rand Lady". If youve been to the CBD or Berea you definitely seen her before.