LOCKDOWN HEROES
Great news for SA’s lockdown heroes as benefactor adds cash prizes
Our winner and nominees will now also receive money to help them continue their work
Last Sunday, we introduced you to some of SA’s lockdown heroes, who were among hundreds of inspiring people nominated by our readers.
It was tough for our judges to award the prize, a R15,000 local holiday package each for our lockdown hero and for the nominator. But the stories that stood out were those of ordinary citizens who did what they could, often without any money or other resources.
Our winner was Sandra Tshisa of Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, who started feeding hungry children in her neighbourhood by cooking soup and porridge on a two-plate stove in her small home, at first in a pot not even big enough to serve them all. We also highlighted 10 other people who had made a real effort to help their communities.
Now, we are thrilled to announce that thanks to Tshedo Impact, a non-profit organisation launched four years ago by Harith General Partners CEO Tshepo Mahloele and his wife, Dolly, we can also award a cash prize of R15,000 to Sandra Tshisa and R10,000 each to our other highlighted heroes, to help them continue their good work. Tshedo Impact has been involved in various education initiatives since then and has also been assisting families with food parcels in Mabopane and Mamelodi.
- Fanele Mnguni, who started a kota initiative with his own money and distributed more than 20,000 kotas around Joburg, keeping spaza owners in business while doing so.
- Dumisani Sevias, who manages the Diepsloot Community Action Network group on Facebook and works with the Gauteng Together initiative to feed and clothe community members.
- Landy Yeatman, a moderator on the “I Love Randburg” Facebook page, who launched an initiative called People4Purpose and collected more than half a ton of maize meal to distribute to the vulnerable.
- Tameka Mngomezulu, who joined forces with her cousins to feed nearly 200 families in Alexandra, Vosloorus, Soweto and Katlehong.
- Clive Pillay, a community activist in Chatsworth, KwaZulu-Natal, where he has been involved in supplying the community with personal protective equipment and organising school lessons to be broadcast on local radio.
- Dumisane Dube of the LGBTI+ ministry at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Johannesburg, who has been feeding vulnerable church members and attending to their personal needs via WhatsApp and Skype while also helping foreign nationals.
- Dorcas Motseki from QwaQwa, Phuthaditjhaba, who cares for 60 children through her organisation, We Care, and who started distributing school uniforms, shoes and food to needy families during the lockdown.
- Eugenie Barhume, who raised R8,270 to buy food parcels for refugees who depend for their survival on Cinyabuguma Bashi, an organisation that houses refugees in Cape Town.
- Godsend Mokgope, a community activist in Logageng in the North West who rallied businesses and people in the area to supply food parcels, and who built better structures for families living in mud homes.
- Lucas ‘Chippa’ Mtsweni, who collects bread daily from bakeries to feed hundreds of hungry people in Phola township, Mpumalanga.
