Riding with the donkey cart men

By Michael Kaeflein

The donkey cart makes its way up the hill. Slowly. The donkeys are dusty and tired, but they walk on with the encouragement of their owner’s handmade whip. The cart is carrying firewood, and Patric chats and laughs with a friend as they take a ride. It’s a common sight around the streets of Grahamstown and it’s part of the city’s charm. Patric Doyi owns two donkeys. He was given his first by his father and then bought another one for R250. With this pairing, called Blackie and Whitie, he can often be seen making his way along Beaufort Street with his cart on the way back to the township. He makes his living carrying loads of firewood from the forests outside Grahamstown and selling them in the township.

It takes Patric and his friend an hour and a half to make their way through town to fetch wood and return to the township. There they sell the wood for R40 a load and their day’s work is done. Patric insists that he takes good care of the donkeys; they sleep outside at night and are allowed to roam free. He feeds them carrots and cabbage and they are watered in the breaks between carrying loads. Every now and again he gives people rides – he remembers giving a ride to a foreign family during Festival, because they wanted to experience Grahamstown from the back of a donkey cart. He says he would even give students a ride, at R5 a pop.

Patric says that he never has any problems from the police or traffic officials, nor motorists, who have come to tolerate the donkey carts in the streets of Grahamstown.

Patric is one of the 56 cart owners registered with the Makana Donkey Association. The association fights to protect the rights of donkeys and to ensure that they are treated in a humane manner. The Association was founded 5 years ago by Anneriee Wolmaraans, a former SPCA employee, who was concerned about the abuse that the donkeys were suffering because their owners overwork them so they can earn more money. For Annerie to control the way donkeys were treated around town, she asked the donkey owners to become members of the Association. At present, members of the Association total about 90% of Grahamstown’s donkey owners, who meet every other month in the townships.

Annerie has a passion for donkeys that has been with her since childhood. “I have a photo of me as a three year old, perched on top of a donkey, maybe that’s where the love came from,” she says. When she talks about donkeys and the work that the Association does, her blue eyes are lit with passion.

On its mission to educate, the Makana Donkey Association sent eight donkey owners to Cape Town on a course to teach them how to look after their donkeys. These eight owners now take the liberty of sharing their know-how with the rest of the donkey owners in the Grahamstown community. Since then, things have “improved a hell of a lot” for the Grahamstown donkeys, says Annerie.

Donkey abuse has been rife in the last decade. Annerie describes cases where animals are stabbed and sometimes even killed. This is mainly because rivalry between donkey cart owners is fierce. Donkeys have had their ears or tails cut off and one even had an iron rod pushed up its rectum. Annerie explains that when a donkey owner makes a mere R60 a day, “the donkey always comes last”.

Ever since the Makana Donkey Association was established, the community and the donkey owners have been very cooperative in reporting any ill treatment of the donkeys. Concerned motorists often call in to report when a donkey cart is overloaded. Legally, the Association’s cause is gaining ground – there have been three successful prosecutions of animal abuse against donkeys in Grahamstown.

With Annerie and the Makana Donkey Association keeping an eye on the donkeys that work tirelessly and provide many families with a livelihood, it is reassuring to know that they are being treated in an increasingly humane way.