Township mother fights losing battle to keep son, age nine, from running off t live life of the streets. She tries to assert authority with threats: "What's your future going to be like without an education?" But it is too late...
...the boy - called Papa - is out of control. Jumping fences is something he must do well if he means to live by his wits.
Papa with slingshot, usually first weapon of township boy.
Line between laughing and crying, between playing and fighting, is very narrow for boy schooled in the streets. He doesn't care that he wears rags.
When these pictures were taken, Papa's mother had just learned that he had been playing hooky for three months.
Street boys angling for a way to eat, which they do only when they have money.
Their hangout at fringe of white city's lights.
"Penny, baas, please, baas, I hungry..." This plaint is part of nightly scene in the golden City, as black boys beg from whites. They may be thrown a coin, or, as here, they may get slapped in the face.
In a shebeen, oil can containing potent liquor is passed from man to man; jokingly they call it "crude oil".
After a few drinks, young mother begins to sag.