Publications
Partners
- In Rosedale, Upington, residents have taken it upon themselves to improve their living conditions.
- In the series, On The Road, News24 is travelling through the country to gauge South Africans' feelings ahead of the elections.
- News24's Manifesto Meter elections tool compares political party manifestos. Read more here.
From the stark environment and amid the lived realities of people in Rosedale, Upington, residents are picking up spades and pushing wheelbarrows to improve the community one plant at a time.
If you drive from the neat midtown of Upington and across the railway line to Rosedale, you will see a vast expanse of zinc houses.
It's a harsh part of the world - dry, dusty, and hot. So very, very hot. So, it is somewhat surprising to see carefully manicured gardens - green spots against the red land.
"Look, it's just rubbish heaps that we've turned around. And we're tired of the rubbish that's just thrown around," Martha Joseph tells News24. She is one of a team of residents working on a patch of land that's still to be transformed into one of their gardens.
They clean the area and plant the flowers and shrubs.
"And then we make it pretty, the way we like it."
"Man, I'm really excited, because to see your own handiwork, you feel proud."
Joseph feels it improves their otherwise stark living conditions.
The community mostly appreciates their work, she says.
"But there are the ne'er-do-wells who come and take what doesn't belong to them, but then we come back and do it over again.
"The problem is, there isn't much work. And that is why so many people get up to no good."
They also have to convince some members of the community not to dump their rubbish in their gardens.
But it isn't only rubbish they have to contend with. On one occasion, they found a body in a bin.
"Hier by ons is dit 'n bietjie rof (here where we are it's a bit rough)," she says, adding that it's because of the "tik koppe".
Shortly after 09:00, the mercury already rises well above 30 degrees. Joseph chuckles when asked how they keep going in the heat.
ON THE ROAD | Hope runs dry in Kimberley
"As jy beginne, wil jy klaar maak (if you start, you want to finish)," she says, adding that they take a break over lunch, when the heat is at its worst.
"For two and a half years, we worked for free," Joseph says. Then, in October last year, the Northern Cape agriculture department got on board, providing them with some supplies, uniforms and a stipend.
Adam Oor, 54, adds that their contract with the department is now finished.
"So, we're going on by ourselves to keep the things alive."
He says there is a possibility that the contract will be renewed.
Not far from where Joseph, Oor and their colleagues work is another oasis around a zinc house.
For the past eight years that she has been living here, Drina Eyman (67) has been pouring her heart, soul and meagre pension into a lush garden. It goes beyond a variety of plants, even gumboots and jeans have been repurposed into colourful "pots" for her plants.
"I felt I wanted to make this yard pretty, because I love plants so much, yes. That's all," she says as she proudly shows News24 around her serene garden.
She gets up early each morning to water the garden, which takes up to an hour and a half.
"When the heat comes, the ground is properly wet."
"It is my life, I love this garden."
She says people can see her garden from the road and some stop and ask if they can take photos. "Then I say: 'Yes, but don't put it on Facebook.' And if they ask why, I say I don't understand these funny phones and things," she chuckles.
The environment isn't the only thing the residents have taken charge of.
ON THE ROAD | 'We will not let our town go down': Beaufort West residents vow to 'protect' community
In the heart of dusty, dry, red-soiled Rosedale in Upington, a stone's throw away from the gardens, is the Koda Multi-Purpose Centre, a non-profit organisation (NPO) tackling food insecurity, gender-based violence and unemployment in the Northern Cape.
The NPO, which has been operational since 2006 but was registered in 2017, caters to the community by offering food, skills development, and fighting gender-based violence (GBV).
Co-founder and treasurer Francois Booysen says Koda was founded mainly to fight food security in the Northern Cape.
Since then, the centre has mushroomed into the multi-purpose centre it is today.
He said:
To fight hunger in the community, Koda also runs a soup kitchen that feeds at least 200 people three times a week, and plans are afoot to make the centre self-sustaining with a food garden.
The plan is to plant potatoes in the 2000 square metre garden to sell and use in the soup kitchen.
Once a market for the potatoes is secured, Booysen hopes he will finally be able to pay volunteers a stipend.
Work is under way to build a greenhouse at the centre due to the harsh Upington weather.
Tackling the humanitarian crisis of hunger is also a team effort in the area as retailers have also chipped in.
The businesses have been crucial as the centre moves to establish a greenhouse garden at the centre.
According to Booysen, when the greenhouse is up and running, Koda will finally have the means to pay stipends.
ON THE ROAD | 'I will vote for Jesus': Why Bergsig residents are despondent ahead of 29 May polls
"At the moment, everyone working here is a volunteer. With this [first] harvest, which will be ready in a few months, we at least want to sustain ourselves and also be able to give our people stipends and this is why we chose to go with potatoes first, they are more resilient and there is a demand," Booysen says.
Maureen Isaacs, 28, a volunteer in the Koda outreach team, says she remains motivated to continue working at the centre because "I know where I'm coming from".
"I come from a background where my grandmother would go to the casino and gamble our grant money.
"When she comes back, she will stress on us. She will beat us for the loss at the casino," Isaacs says, adding that her grandmother went further and used the grant money to fund her drinking habits.
She is empathetic towards children who come from homes where there is no food.
"I know what it feels like to go to school and wonder what I will eat when I come home. I know what it feels like to wake up in the middle of the night and hear the doors opening because your grandmother is only coming home in the middle of the night, and it was just two girls in the house. I know what the children are going through," she says.
