Take Back Our Mountains (TBOM) in partnership with one of the country’s leading bakery and retailer hosted a clean-up operation of Muizenberg Park and surrounding foot trails on Friday 26 May.
Taahir Osman, founder of TBOM, a non-profit organisation (NPO) that focus on protecting biodiversity and organising safe hikes, said the homeless, who lived on the mountain, joined the campaign. This gave TBOM an opportunity to engage them on keeping the environment clean.
“This area has been on our agenda for quite some time because most hikers or locals, who live in the area, use the trail that takes you up to Boyes Drive to access trails on the mountain.
“There are a lot of (homeless) living here and of course there is a lot of rubbish, so we put a team together and decided to come here with the support of Blue Ribbon, Pick n Pay and VW Table View who put together some nice hampers.
“We are involving the homeless to join us on the clean-up and to obviously teach them about the environment and how to keep the area clean. We also brought vouchers for them to get meals.”
He added that the section of the park, behind Muizenberg Police Station, has been occupied by homeless people for some time.
“This section belongs to the City of Cape Town and besides cleaning the mountain we also want to clean the city.”
Meanwhile, Wadeedah Jaffer, an avid hiker from Claremont, joined the campaign as a way to give back.
“I’m part of TBOM hiking and I quite enjoy the fact that we can be out here in nature and enjoy our environment, keep fit and healthy.
“What is really sad is when our beautiful Cape Town mountains are being polluted with rubbish and all sorts of things people use to destroy our mountain with. The important thing is that we come and volunteer our time as hikers to keep our environment clean.”
Kashief Hendricks, a field sales manager from Blue Ribbon, says they try to assist in cleaning operations when there is a need.
“Every month we try to assist in the community, whether it is helping the community with sandwiches or uplifting them and because we know our plastics have an effect on the environment we initiated this and we collaborate with TBOM and South African National Parks (SANparks) as well.”
Hendricks added that most of the trash he found on Friday was plastic.
“So far I already found three plastics of Blue Ribbon, so definitely there is more of this incentives we need because at the end of the day, it does affect our environment. We need to make sure that these plastic bags we use do not end up in our environment.”
Ursula Brown, who is homeless and living on the mountain behind the police station, said she was happy to help with the clean-up.
“I’ve been living in Muizenberg for 13 years and in the mountain for almost 12 years.”
Brown says she ended up on the streets after her mother passed away.
“My mother passed away 14 years ago and my dad found someone else and he literally kicked me out. We are staying here, not because we want to but because of circumstances.
“The view is very nice and the fresh air, if I had to stay at another place now I would easily get sick.”
She is one of six couples living in tents on the mountain.
Shane Dewee, who lives in a tent next to a footpath, assisted with picking up rubbish.
“I’ve been living here a good few years. In 2016 I came out of prison and then in 2017 I didn’t have a place to stay. I had nowhere to go so I ended up here.
“I’m also glad to help today.”
