Every day I drive the gauntlet of beggars. Seven sets of traffic lights: the blind guy and his relative; the woman who sends her small grubby child to your window while she sits in the shade; the wizened old man who mysteriously dislodges his jaw; and the guy who insists you hand over your rubbish despite the spotless interior of your car.

Then there are the guilt-tax collectors. The Big Issue (which is, admittedly, a fantastic magazine) vendors; the Funny Money chaps; and what seems like the entire fraternity of African bead-masters.

Before pulling out of my parking spot, I line the latest Big Issue and a collection of Funny Money pamphlets up on my dashboard. I plan the route of least resistance and hope like hell that I get a green-light-pass all the way home.

This never happens, of course.

Traffic light one: Wham! Stopped. Stuck. Now there are a number of options available to you at this point. You can:

• Stare resolutely ahead of you, without even flinching when the finger starts tapping on your window.


• Wait until the moment when the beggar arrives at your window and then slowly edge your car forward.


• Smile politely, raise your empty hands and shrug your shoulders. Note: it is best to avoid the temptation to open the window.

Or you can take out some small change; hand it over with a smile on your face; and feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

And really, this is what most of us want to do, most of the time. But the maths just isn't feasible. Say you get stopped at 20 traffic lights a day. Say you encounter beggars at 15 of them. If you give each of them R2, you'll be dishing out R30 a day. That's R10 950 a year.

And that's on top of the taxes that you pay that are supposed to be used to create some sort of social safety net. (Although the notion that less than ten percent of the population can support the remaining 90 percent for an indefinite period of time is somewhat untenable.)

As much as I am averse to driving the gauntlet of beggars on a daily basis — it is so laden with guilt, anxiety and, occasionally, irritation — I am not averse to helping those less fortunate than myself. In fact, I see it as a responsibility. But I can't help but think that we are going about it the wrong way.

Surely there is a better way to deal with the plight of the needy in South Africa? Surely there is a better way than encouraging this culture of dependency? A culture which strips individuals of their dignity and entire communities of the potential for self-upliftment.

The most obvious solutions that come to my mind are:

• Investing the money that you would have trickled out at traffic lights in an organisation that deals specifically with helping (and hopefully enabling) the needy.
• Investing your time and skills by becoming involved in (or starting) an organisation that transfers skills to those who have none.

Those are my suggestions. What are yours?

Time to say goodbye? Mmm... Mmmaa... Mmmaaleh... The Point would like to boycott the chubby-cheeked one.

The beggar gauntlet Rebekah Kendal reckons that begging is bad for SA because it fosters a culture of dependency.

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