Ward 38 councillor Malcolm Maifala proudly announced the first Ward 38 champions in line with Mandela Day during a virtual meeting on July 18.
Maifala honoured three notable individuals who went out of their way to help the community, without being asked to extend a helping hand.
For the month of July, he applauded 13-year-old Ethan Ramsaru, Gary van den Heuvel and Sergeant Lindi Moloi of Brackendowns SAPS.
As previously reported, this comes after Maifala recently introduced a platform called My Ward 38 Community Champion. It is aimed at honouring Brackenhurst and Brackendowns residents who outshine themselves by serving their community.
It allows community members to nominate those residents who stand out and residents get an opportunity to nominate people on a monthly basis. In his announcement, he thanked nominees for their continuous service to the community and encouraged the community to always share an act of kindness.
“I am pleased that we have residents who at any given time dedicated their lives to helping others who may be less fortunate. May the examples set by all of them push us all to do better and help where we can in whatever way possible,” said Maifala.
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Ethan Ramsaru
Maifala said Ethan promises to be a great contributor to society and in the future as well.
“Out of other ways he gets involved in the community, his involvement in lending a hand to TEARS Foundation should be an inspiration to all of us. He initially started donating care packs to TEARS Foundation while in Grade Seven at Brackenhurst Primary School,” he said.
Gary van den Heuvel
“Since December 2016, Gary, along with a few other residents, took up the responsibility of starting the Bracken Residents’ Association. This channel continues to be helpful in addressing service delivery issues,” he said.
Maifala stated that he also honoured him for leading the land claim fight on behalf of residents while councillors offered legislative support.
Sgt Lindi Moloi
He applauded Sgt Lindi Moloi for tirelessly going above and beyond for the community.
“Not only is she a dedicated police officer, she has also been instrumental in identifying the need of food relief in Thinasonke. She has on a number of occasions gone beyond the call of duty when she joined residents of Ward 38 in cleaning up the Brackendowns Police Station,” said Maifala.
He also recognised the work done by Chantelle Habib of Habibi Properties for her selflessness.
“Chantelle has dedicated her resources and energy to assisting with the introduction of the My Ward 38 Community Champion. She played a vital role in the formation of the Bracken Forum, an organisation whose initial work was to help residents of Thinasonke with food relief during the national lockdown,” he said.
He encouraged residents to continue nominating other members of the community each month via email on Malcolm.maifala@ekurhuleni.gov.za or on 061 540 4973.
