And I have no idea how it came about.
However, one thing is for sure today, Winnie Mandela Park is one of the major players in creating meaningful jobs in Tembisa and the surrounding areas.
It wasn’t always easy for the people living at this section with its legendary name – it is named after one of the most recognisable comrades worldwide, Winnie Madikizela Mandela.
To elevate its legendary status, the main road where you will find the only men’s clinic in Tembisa performing circumcisions, was named Madiba Drive.
Winnie Madikizela Mandela is the late former statesman, Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife.
The two both went through a lot in the name of the freedom we are enjoying today.
Before what we see today, Winnie Mandela Park had no electricity and was dominated by shacks with just one primary school and no high school, apart from the one the community erected years ago that the authorities closed, claiming it was not registered.
The majority of children had to seek schools close by after exiting primary school. The primary school was supported by a few corporates from the industrial area, Olifantsfontein, which afforded the school enough means to cater for children from all walks of life.
It was not always easy as the school had two different cycles running each day, with the first one starting early in the morning and the next one, midday, up until later in the afternoon. Shopping was done at the shopping centres in Ivory Park and Olifantsfontein.
Just like most sections in South African townships, basic service strikes followed and promises were made by those in charge. Electricity was the main issue, together with housing. Both were provided, with the latter still in progress up to this day, as some of the dwellers have to be moved to other suitable areas which aren’t always enough to accommodate everybody.
Work in progress is better than nothing surely, but others have stayed in poor conditions which are often difficult to live in during rainy seasons for over a decade. Hopefully they will all be provided with decent housing soon.
In 2008, the mall next to the primary school was opened just few months before Christmas, creating various job and entrepreneurial opportunities. This indeed changed Winnie Mandela Park significantly. For a change, it was no longer seen as the shack dwellers-only place. Small entrepreneurs erected stalls close to the mall, targeting the new influx, selling different things while unemployed dwellers applied for jobs with the retailers and various services providers hired by the mall and its tenants.
Even Hospital View dwellers embraced their neighbours. A lot has been said about South African townships from the infamous Soweto, Gugulethu and Mdantsane long before I was even born – with many different people, including entrepreneurs, who live in these townships featured in publications and on television.
Often, as individuals reading other people’s stories, we tend to pay more attention to the successes but hardly to the road that led to that success. While this is good as it fuels our engines, it robs us of the ‘how’ of acquiring the fuel.
Winnie Mandela Park is a section one needs to watch carefully as it is slowly developing, while birthing new business and investments opportunities. Don’t say I did not tell you!
