SEVERAL areas along Zoutpansberg Loop Street in Shallcross, which have become illegal dumping sites and unsafe for residents, were cleaned and cleared during Mandela Day activities today.

The initiative was carried out by the ANC provincial office in Durban.

The eThekwini Municipality’s former speaker, Logie Naidoo, was among more than 50 volunteers helping to remove dirt and clear overgrown grass and trees.

Naidoo said overgrown bushes and illegal dumping of garbage were problems in Shallcross, and he was proud to be a part of the initiative to make the area safe.

He said it was also uplifting to see so many volunteers join to serve the community.

“Volunteers spent 67 minutes and more cleaning badly neglected areas. South Africans should do this more often. Every day should be Mandela Day.” 

Previn Vedan, a community leader in Shallcross, said the clean-up effort was about more than just waste removal. It was about the process of renewal at grassroots level and restoring the social fabric of Shallcross, he said. 

“The area surrounding these flats have become a hub for drugs, crime, and despair and to pretend otherwise is to insult those who live there. But what Mandela taught us, and what today reminds us, is that even the most broken communities can be redeemed by hands that care and leadership that listens.

“Madiba taught us that courage is not the absence of fear. It is the triumph over it. Every volunteer who picked up a broom, every elder who stood tall despite aching bones, and every youth who chose a garbage bag over a gang, they reminded us that the fight for dignity is far from over.

“As we honour Mandela this week and every day after, may we remember that the South Africa he envisioned cannot be built by silence or indifference. It will be built by those who return to their roots, who walk the ground, and who do not wait for permission to care,” he added.

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