A group of Manenberg men are getting down and dirty as they transform a dumping ground into a flower garden to help beautify their community.
Wayne Coetzee, Ashraf Meyer and Thaakir Armod have been lauded by residents living in Letaba Road for their hard work turning a derelict public space into a garden.
The garden is the brainchild of Wayne, who says they’ve chosen to be productive with their time while they look for jobs.
The 33-year-old dad says with six children to feed, he started skarreling for wood to sell along Turfhall Road.
“People were dumping here because this is a main road so they threw their goetes out of the window and it looked morsig,” he explains.
“I collect wood to sell so I can feed my laaities and I have always liked flowers so I decided, no man, come we clean up and make it mooi so the people won’t be scared to stop here and buy from us.”
BLOSSOM: Wayne, Thaakir and Ashraf working in their garden
He roped in his two friends and over the past two weeks the ouens have started cleaning up the area.
Ashraf says they started planting flowers donated by residents and used old palisade fencing and pieces of wire to create a fence.
“This is stukkies of palisade that we painted ourselves and for the steps we used old tiles that we painted to make it look nice,” Ashraf says.
“We made a pathway for people to walk on so they don’t damage the garden.”
Thaakir says they only have one spade, so they use their hands to dig, and sometimes they borrow equipment from neighbours.
“I used my mother’s broom for the house and its klaar already, she will skel me if she knows it’s me, but it’s OK, it’s for the community,” he laughs.
Manenberg garden
Wayne says they are in need of equipment.
“If we had seeds or fertiliser, it could look much better, so we need some help,” Wayne says.
'“We want to be an example to our laaities and to show people not everyone is a skollie.”
If you would like to assist can call Ashraf Meyer on 083 860 9834
.