Home - Advertise - Subscribe -

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has fully endorsed the Niall Mellon Township Trust.

While some hate, others choose to help, which is certainly the case with Niall Mellon, an Irish businessman who in 2002 at the age of 35 visited Cape Town and was touched by the grinding poverty of those living in our shanty towns, in particular the one in Hout Bay called The Imizamo Yethu township.

Despite opposition from many of the wealthy white residents of Hout Bay, Mellon set up the Niall Mellon Township Trust and together with Irish volunteers built 450 homes in Imizamo Yethu. Since then the trust has built 10 000 homes in the Western Cape, and is expanding their efforts to include Gauteng. Their first project up north is in Thembisa.

In 2002, despite it being 8 years after Apartheid had officially ended in South Africa the attitudes of white property owners in Hout Bay were still deeply racist with them clinging to the idea that Hout Bay was “their area” and many openly opposed the development of Imizamo Yethu because it would cement their presence in the area and thwart their goal of forcing them out.

“It is amazing what is happening. Some of the rich whites from across the river, those we work for, are beginning to help us. When we lived in shacks they would not even come into the township, but now they see we are human beings.

“A few whites are paying to build their staff homes, and others are helping by buying things like furniture. We have dignity and pride now because of our homes, so they see us differently, but it is the Irish who led by example.” - Sophia Morris, one of the first recipients in 2003 of a Niall Mellon Township Trust house.

Sophia Morris, a resident of Imizamo Yethu, said that things have changed somewhat since those days and nowadays some local white residents are pitching in to help uplift the township by building houses for their staff and furnishing them. But, she notes, it took the Irish to lead the way.

This is a sad indictment of the lack of transformation of many white attitudes towards black South Africans who still cling to their old Apartheid privileges and selfishly do not want to help others. This is an extremely short sighted attitude and tends to sow the seeds for violent revolution where the disenfranchised rise up and take what they need and want by force of arms as has happened in many impoverished parts of the world throughout human history.

UCT has joined in supporting Mellon’s efforts by requiring that their CEM students spend some of their time involved in building Niall Mellon sponsored houses in the townships. In September 2007, UCT students worked in Mfuleni township in Blue Downs which is close to Khayelitsha. A student who was involved in that project blogged about his experiences here.

At least one local construction business, Saint-Gobain, has also joined in and so far contributed over R1 million worth of building materials. Saint-Gobain staff also participated in a volunteer day in Thembisa, Gauteng.

The Niall Mellon Township Trust is most famous for its so-called “building blitzes” in which a large number of houses are completed by thousands of volunteers in a matter of days. The next building blitz is in 4 days time. More details of this can be found here.

If you wish to get involved personally and put your shoulder to the wheel to build a better South Africa for all, then you can volunteer your time, labour and money and participate in physically building a home for someone less fortunate than yourself. Details are available at these links: Corporate, Individual, NGOs.