William celebrates 23 years at Kempton SPCA

IT’S rare to come across people who have dedicated their lives to working with animals but they do exist.

One such person is William Mzimba, who has been with Kempton Park SPCA for the past 23 years.

William (48) works as a field officer at the SPCA and his job includes pre-home and post-home assessments, which entails checking homes before and after pet adoptions to determine whether they can provide suitable environments for the animals.

William is also responsible for the collection of dogs which have either been surrendered by their owners, or are sick and need medical attention.

He is involved, as well, with conducting investigations if the SPCA receives information regarding alleged animal abuse at a particular property. In addition, William does general animal care education at schools and organisations.

Originally from a village in Tzaneen, Limpopo, William came to Gauteng as a young man to look for work.

“I first heard about the job in 1994 at the SPCA through my uncle Samson Mdaka, who was working for the animal shelter at the time,” he explained.

And since then, a love for animals has slowly grown for the tall man. So much so that he even has two ganders at home, which he has had for three years now.

“They feed on mealies, grass and plants and I made a little dam for them in my yard back home in Tzaneen.”

But since he lives here in Kempton, William’s wife and children look after the birds for him.

“They are actually better watchdogs than dogs themselves,” he says, laughing. “They are very alert animals.”

Although he lives this side with one of his sons, William, who has three boys and two girls, visits his Tzaneen home regularly.

He said he was thoroughly enjoying working at the SPCA and was not planning on leaving any time soon.

“I have enjoyed my time here, working with the people and the pets every day. My love for animals has grown over the years. Believe it or not, you can really learn a lot from cats and dogs,” William says with a smile.

And if he had to pick which animal he loves the best? “I actually don’t have a favourite, it’s very hard to choose one.”

Then he says with a slow smile: “Okay, maybe I like dogs better.”