A team from the eThekwini Municipality works diligently to restore order in Sherwood after the crisis.
Image: Doctor Ngcobo / ANA Studio
Sherwood Hall and its surroundings have transitioned from the centre of a rapid-growth humanitarian crisis to a scene of challenging cleanup efforts.
Following the departure of thousands of undocumented Malawian nationals who had sought refuge in the area, the neighbourhood now faces the aftermath.
On Monday morning, eThekwini Municipality employees descended on the area and started cleaning up and collecting blankets, food, buckets, clothing, and other items that had been left behind, while vagrants and passersby salvaged some of the items.
Officials observe the aftermath during the cleanup.
Image: Doctor Ngcobo / ANA Studio
Resident Samantha Thring said that their dogs alerted them at 1am on Monday, and they saw Malawian men lined up down the road. They had dumped their dirt and faeces in packets all over the road.
“We had no sleep until they started clearing them about 3am. They started moving them up the road, and I think into buses and moving them out of here,” Thring said.
She said they were turning away e-hailing vehicles, bringing in more immigrants, and telling them to go to the Durban drive-in site.
“They’ve left everything: food, clothing, you name it. Now, what’s happening is that all the vagrants from all the informal settlements are going to come in here now. They’ve already started to come and go through all these things and see what they can take, because some of these blankets and all the new blankets that they were given, they just left. Some of the things are their donations, some of the things are their stuff,” Thring said.
Municipal workers begin the cleanup process at Sherwood Hall, collecting discarded items left behind.
Image: Doctor Ngcobo / ANA Studio
Passerby Mam’ Dlamini said: “These are belongings we could use because we are already struggling; we don’t have anyone working, and we need these things. It’s better if we pick them up and sort them out at home because we, too, here in South Africa — I speak for myself — we live on pension money. No child of mine is working.
“Instead of letting these items be thrown away, I am picking them up, like the buckets. I will sell them for R20; I will get money to buy electricity for the house.”
Sherwood Hall’s facilities serve as a reminder of the recent humanitarian crisis faced in the area.
Image: Doctor Ngcobo / ANA Studio
Sherwood Association Chairperson, Kingsley Bengtson, said the toilets at Sherwood Hall were new, but were now damaged and blocked. He called a plumber three times as they were blocked, adding that even the yard was in a wreck.
He said he had to conduct a thorough check of the hall, but managed to clean up some of their stuff, with more cleaning still needed.
“These were officials who were used in the hall. They’re the ones who had access to the toilets. A couple of tables are damaged. I need to count my chairs and see if any are missing. The doors in the toilets have to be repainted. They are a complete mess. And of course, the damaged tables we have. As we go through, we’ll find out more,” Bengtson said.
He said the Sherwood Association owns Sherwood Hall, and they are its custodians.
Residents and vagrants sift through the remnants left behind, searching for items that can be reused or sold, while municipal workers continue the cleanup.
Image: Doctor Ngcobo / ANA Studio
Ward 30 Councillor Warren Burne said that initially, there was resistance to using the inside of the hall to house the people or assist in the process.
“I want to give my thanks to the Sherwood Association for opening their hearts to the officials to enable them to at least get a process going. The fact that it was overrun by the sheer numbers is unfortunate, but at least they tried, and things would have been a lot worse if everything had had to happen in tents outside the hall. So, they did us all a big favour, the Sherwood community a big favour by making the hall available,” Burne said.
Standing outside an empty Sherwood Hall, Burne said: “What I see around me is a relief to see no human beings here, but a real eye opener regarding the amount of mess that’s left behind.
“There is a team, a large team of workers from the Solid Waste (department), who are cleaning up the area. But it’s going to take many days to pick up all the litter, but at least the job is being done.”
Discarded items remain after immigrants left Sherwood Hall.
Image: Doctor Ngcobo / ANA Studio