Ten formerly homeless people have been employed by the U‑turn Homeless Service Centre through its new Living Roots SA Plant Nursery, which opened on Monday in Claremont, Cape Town. The nursery, which stocks indigenous plants, is run entirely by these former street dwellers and is part of a project funded by the Jobs Fund – a multi‑year, R9‑billion National Treasury initiative established in 2011 to encourage innovation and support community‑based programmes.
The site was once a derelict piece of land situated between an apartment complex and a tennis club, previously used by a bowling club and vacant for years. It now belongs to the Claremont Beneficiary Trust, which acquired the land in 2017 as part of an official land‑restitution claim for more than 60 families displaced under the Group Areas Act. The Trust welcomed the nursery’s establishment and hopes to retain part of it when the land is further developed.
“Turning this into a community nursery is a really good example of what can be done in the rest of the city,” said Ward Councillor Mikhail Manuel. Treasurer Yusuf Mowlana praised U‑turn’s work as “absolutely fantastic,” adding that the Trust is happy to be associated with the project and looks forward to preserving parts of the nursery in future plans.
The nursery’s plants are grown by the workers on‑site, with some supplied by an off‑site grower. In preparing the land, the team collected 200 bags of litter. Julia September, manager at Living Roots, explained that the project began six months ago and will also offer public workshops on indigenous plants. The nursery is open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Mark Jaftha, one of the nursery employees, shared his personal journey: “I was living on the streets for two months. It was cold and wet. I was grieving my father’s passing. I was vulnerable and lonely.” After struggling with substance abuse, Jaftha has been sober for more than a year since joining U‑turn. He now stays at the Retreat night shelter and says, “I’m encouraging people out there that there is life after homelessness. Look at me, I’m fat and looking good. I’ve got support back from my family and they respect me now.”
At the launch, U‑turn CEO Jean‑Ray Knighton Fitt noted that helping people transition from homelessness to stable employment and housing often takes years. “We work with people from the time they are destitute on the streets, all the way until they have found healing, independent employment, and long‑term housing, and restored broken relationships,” she said. Those who wish to leave the streets can undergo a rehabilitation process with U‑turn and then enter a work‑readiness programme. “We call them champions because they’ve already overcome seemingly insurmountable odds.”
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