‘The environment is us’ is Mentoor’s enviro-mantra
Heather Dugmore
“What is wrong with you that you want to cut down all these trees?” a 10-year-old girl from Chiawelo township in Soweto demands of a girl the same age. Between them stands a smaller child with her arms raised to resemble the branches of a tree. Forming a circle around the three are 40 youngsters ranging in age from toddlers to teenagers all squeezed into a room off the kitchen of Mandla Mentoor’s home.
Mentoor, the Gauteng co-ordinator for the Environmental Justice Network Forum (EJNF), watches them through the door: “I love my community,” he says. “These children are rehearsing a drama production about environmental awareness which we plan to take to township schools in Gauteng.”
It is one of the many community outreach programmes initiated and managed by Mentoor, who believes in educating children and adults about their environmental rights, and equipping them to resolve problems in their communities through the “enviro-shares” system he conceived.
This system is a series of information-sharing and management skills workshops dealing specifically with environmental problems, in collaboration with provincial government, relevant NGOs and the private sector. Issues addressed so far include air pollution from mining operations, illegal dumping, widespread water and air pollution, and the neglect of natural areas in the townships, such as the Klip river wetlands.
Communities are starting to benefit tremendously from the enviro-shares system Mentoor wants to spread to all other provinces.
“I’m a born activist,” he explains. “I know how to mobilise people and to communicate at all levels. Somebody once told me my problem is that I’m blacker than everyone else. I’m more political and more sensitive than the average person, which is why I’ve always been in the frontline.
“Today I believe the frontline is the environment. Many of us are from an era that never knew about the environment. We thought it was only about game reserves and nature, not where we live. Many people still don’t understand the environment is us.
“My mission is to help all people to understand this and to know that they have a right to a clean, healthy environment. People also need to learn that they have to take responsibility for their environment. Just as large corporations don’t have the right to dump and pollute, neither do they as individuals or communities.”
Mentoor’s environmental mission dates back to 1990, when he established Amandla Waste Creations (AWC): a “home-brewed” environmental clean-up and waste-recycling business. With no resources other than his determination to uplift his community, he established it in the backyard of his home in Chiawelo.
“I especially wanted to help unemployed women and youths. I wanted to give them skills to depend on so that they would never again feel the pangs of hunger.”
His first step was to approach seven elderly, unemployed women and several youngsters, to whom he said: “We don’t have much, but let’s zoom in on what we do have an excess of domestic waste and turn it into an economical asset.” Together they started collecting every kind of domestic waste, and selling it to recycling companies from Mentoor’s backyard. “At one stage we had five tons of tin here,” he smiles.
“Then I took the process a step further to stimulate those who wanted to be more creative about recycling. Myself and 15 youngsters learnt to make art from domestic waste.” It was all self-taught. “It’s not that difficult. We all have the gene to be creative because we are all God’s children.”
Ten years later AWC is a thriving concern. In one corner is the waste recycling depot for plastic bottles, newspapers, scrap wire and cans. In another is the community art gallery. AWC has trained 350 people to make art and money from domestic waste.
“During the process I became increasingly environmentally aware,” continues Mentoor. “I realised how serious a problem dealing with waste is because some of it can be hazardous to one’s health. I realised we needed to bring in specialists to educate us about waste, which we did through the community clinics and local council.”
During this time he also established art, culture and sports programmes for hundreds of children.
Helping him all the way is his wife, Tholakele. “She’s given me a lot of inspiration. I would never have achieved what I have without her encouragement and support. There have been many times when there was no money in this house, but she never complained or told me to find a job.”
To date, AWC has never had any external funding. “Obviously with extra funding we could vastly expand our outreach. But my motto is that with or without money there’s always something you can do if you all pull together,” says Mentoor, who now has six teachers working with him in programmes across Gauteng.
“I am nothing without my team, which is why I want to dedicate this award to all of us.”
One of their goals is to transform Chiawelo and its nine adjoining townships into a conservancy. “We want to clean up this whole area and create a healthy environment. We also have beautiful wetlands and ecosystems here that are being destroyed. We want to rehabilitate them and bring back the birds.” They’ve already started. Recently AWC’s youth group cleaned up the grasslands around Chiawelo’s old water tower. Southside Media
1 Mandla Mentoor in his backyard in Chiawelo, Soweto: the headquarters of his waste recycling business. He is holding one of his works in progress – a sculpture from recycled waste.
Investing in the Environment:Individual Winner
Winner: Mandla Mentoor
Prize: R10 000, sponsored by South African Breweries
Judges’ comments: “Mandla Mentoor is an inspiring individual who has been involved in various waste-management and environmental projects for a long time.
“He is a model for future generations, who has shown how passion and commitment can overcome scant resources.”