Urban precincts green up for Mandela Day
Glenwood UIP, and Pigeon Valley UIP spent 67 minutes each to conserve Nelson Mandela's legacy.
On Saturday the Glenwood Urban Precint Improvent (GUIP), together with community members, took to Bulwer Park for a mega clean-up, and repainting for Nelson Mandela Day.
According to Nothile Mkhize, GUIP manager, the activities were in line with Mandela’s selfless contribution to improve the well-being of people.
“We often talk about this as a political ambition, however it’s about being humanistic, and caring about fellow human beings.
“We continue the same legacy that Mandela spoke about. If each person could show this through spending 67 minutes of their time, then his legacy would continue,” Mkhize said.
She highlighted that their focus on Mandela Day was the park, because “a park is a place of unity where people of diverse races, economic backgrounds, and ages can integrate”.
The day was sealed with a picnic and a classical concert by the popular Black Tie Tunes.
On the other side of the suburb, the Pigeon Valley Urban Improvement Precinct (PVUIP) marked the day with tree-plantinting on Lena Ahrens Road, and a significant alien plants clearing at the Pigeon Valley Nature Reserve.
Leading the clearing mission was Dr Chrispin Hemson. He said their mission is to keep the reserve free from alien invasion.
“On this Mandela Day, we focused on removing the most invasive plants, in 67 minutes. It was impressive that we could do so much in such a short space of time,” Hemson enthused.
The 18-member group of a blend of the young and old scoured the reserve, and by the end of the 67 minutes a pile of aliens sat as a major achievement.
“People were really genuinely interested in knowing about, not only the the alien vegetation, but also the indigenous plants. So the exercise was also about education, in this process people learnt something new,” Hemson added.
Also read: Exploring Pigeon Valley: The surging creepers
He said they were delighted to be able to do this work on Mandela Day. “There’s an element of sacrifice, doing something meaningful, not for financial reward, but for a sense of achievement of contribution to a greater good of the society.”
It was not the first time the PVUIP commemorated Mandela Day in this way. Although challenging, and demanding, removing creepers that grow in some parts of the reserve marked great progress, Hemson shared.
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