Masters of BF parking … A business owned and run by boys

WITH the precision of an experienced vehicle driving instructor, 12-year-old Prince carefully guides a Highlanders fan to park his car at the Barbourfields Stadium parking lot.

For a youngster too young to have a national identity card (ID), let alone a driver’s licence, his confidence in directing grown-ups to carefully park their vehicles is the stuff of legends.

Despite his age, Prince’s confidence tells a story of a boy who knows what he is doing in a business that requires him to tell adults what to do.

In that moment when he directs the Bosso fan to carefully park his vehicle, the teenager owns the space, runs the business and controls how things are done.

It’s a business run and controlled by boys.

Like it or not the boys are the masters of the parking lot at Barbourfields Stadium and they rule the roost.

The middle-aged driver, clad in black and white Highlanders replica jersey, gladly follows the boy’s instructions to a tee.

A business transaction follows when the driver parks his car at a spot opposite a popular drinking joint, situated at least 100 metres to the closest entry point into Barbourfields Stadium, when he pays the boy US$1 for a parking fee.

Not all customers pay upfront, Prince tells the Saturday Chronicle Sport.

Some prefer to pay after the football match when they are certain their vehicles are safe and have been well looked after.

“I have my customers who come to Barbourfields when Bosso is playing and they always park at the same spot.

“Those are my customers and I know where they park, I make sure their parking spaces are free for them to park and I collect my money when the game is over,” Prince tells the Saturday Chronicle Sport.

It’s a dog-eat-dog business and Prince is not the only one assisting vehicle owners to park their cars in the vicinity of Barbourfields Stadium.

Business booms when Bosso is playing at home.

Prince and his peers are certain to go home with at least US$7 or more.

The bigger the game at Barbourfields Stadium, the more supporters and more money for the boys.

It’s good money for the Grade 7 pupil from a local primary school and his colleagues.

“My grandmother knows that I help Bosso fans to park their cars on Sundays when the team is playing here.

“Every Sunday I buy meat for Gogo and she also takes some of the money to buy pens, pencils and books for my young sister,” the boy says.

While our photographer Nkosizile Ndlovu captures pictures of Prince’s colleagues at work, the boy tells us that some home-owners around the stadium have also chipped into the parking business.

“If you check at the back there (a row of houses near a parking lot close to Empakweni Stand), there are boys who also work there. We are not allowed to go there because that is someone else’s territory.

“The owners close to those houses chase us away because cars park in their yards,” the boy informs us.

Because they are boys, some grown-ups take advantage and intimidate the teenagers just to avoid paying.

Prince tells our photographer Ndlovu how some grown-ups simply drive away without paying.

“Please take pictures of the guys who don’t pay us. We can’t do anything about it (driving away without paying), they are adults so if we ask for our money, they will threaten to beat us up,” he adds.

Barbourfields Stadium has designated parking areas but for a team that commands magnitudes of fans from all over the country, parking space at will terminally remain a challenge when Bosso is playing.

Saturday Chronicle Sport took a snap survey around the stadium and observed the following.

When Bosso plays at Barbourfields Stadium, vehicles are parked as far as Mzilikazi High School, a distance less than a kilometre from the stadium.

Nearby is Mpilo Hospital, one of the biggest referral health institutions in the country, and vehicles owned by football supporters can be seen parked near the hospital.

The boys try to lure customers by giving assurances that their cars will be safe.

Football supporters who own cars and park their vehicles on march days at Barbourfields Stadium trust the boys.

It’s a give and take kind of business.

For fans who want their vehicles washed while they enjoy an afternoon of good football, that service is also available.

“We charge US$3 to wash a vehicle and we will also guard it until the game is over,” another boy tells us.

To safeguard their business interests, the boys run the vehicle guarding enterprise among themselves and don’t appreciate “outsiders”.

By outsiders, Prince says anyone who is not from the surrounding neighbourhoods in Mzilikazi and Barbourfields suburbs area.

They know each other on a first name basis and one thing in common with the boys is that they all dream of playing for Bosso one day.