Meet Dr Ephraim Kgoete, The Limpopo Doctor Selling Kotas To Help Patients

Image: Facebook

Ephraim Kgoete has built an unusual second life, swapping his scrubs for an apron to sell street food, and every rand earned goes straight towards funding surgeries for patients who can't afford them. The hustle started in 2018, and what began as a side gig selling kotas has quietly turned into something much bigger.

It’s well known that South Africa's two-tiered healthcare system is both overstretched and expensive, and Dr Kgoete realised early on that medicine doesn't end when you leave the ward. The real barriers to healthcare are waiting right there in the community, impossible to ignore once you're looking.

"There are too many barriers between healthcare and the people who need it, especially the disadvantaged," he said. "I try to break those walls down and go into the community to serve with love, not just flexing with stethoscopes around our necks."

That last line hits because it's so rare to hear someone in his position talk like that. No ego, no hierarchy, just a guy who saw a gap and decided to bridge it himself rather than waiting for the system to catch up. The kota stall now employs three part-time workers who help him sell on the streets and at events, turning a personal mission into a small community economy. And the impact is tangible.

Thomas Mogale, 54, from Kgapane, spent more than 20 years with untreated cysts on his face. After two decades of being mocked and waiting on a system he couldn't afford to navigate, Dr Kgoete stepped in and performed the surgery for free. "Dr Kgoete is a hero," Mogale said. "I pray that he lives more years in order to help others."

Beyond the weekend hustle, Kgoete runs free surgical drives, health campaigns, school visits, and an annual fundraising walk. He's become locally known as "doctor ya batho" — the people's doctor. But he's also refreshingly honest about the fact that this isn't just a feel-good story about charity. It's about survival in an economy where a salary alone doesn't always stretch far enough. "In this economy, a salary alone is not always enough," he said. "Having another stream of income helps you save, invest, and support your family better."

That's the part that feels particularly relevant right now. Gen Z is often told to build multiple income streams as a form of self-preservation, and here's a doctor doing exactly that, except the side hustle isn't just keeping him afloat; it's changing lives. What started as a weekend gig has become a full-blown social intervention, one kota at a time.