Yaeesh Collins|Published
A Johannesburg initiative is cleaning neglected public spaces while creating paid work opportunities for people experiencing housing inequality, displacement, and financial hardship.
Joburg resident Carly Kay had noticed overgrown pavements, neglected traffic islands and blocked stormwater drains near her home. By mid-2025, she began looking for ways to address the problems.
In March 2026, a conversation with the head of her local residents’ association led to an introduction to Cross The Divide, a Johannesburg-based non-profit organisation.
That connection led to Pave The Way, a community initiative that uses donations from residents and businesses to employ people to clean and maintain public spaces.
Since its first major clean-up on Bompas Road in May 2026, Pave The Way has completed about 30 clean-ups in areas including Rosebank, Hyde Park, Dunkeld, Parkwood and Craighall Park.
Kay said she had “reached a point where I felt I had to do something”, although she knew she “couldn’t do it alone”.
Cross The Divide, she said, had “relationships with people in the community and the structures of a registered NPO”, helping to turn the idea into an operating initiative.
Paid work and meals
Kay runs Pave The Way with Jeremy Redfearn and Susan Winkler.
Winkler started Cross The Divide’s feeding scheme during the Covid-19 pandemic. The scheme currently serves between 120 and 140 meals each week, according to the organisers.
Her relationships with people attending the feeding scheme helped establish the clean-up team. Workers who want to earn an income can sign up for shifts, with between 20 and 26 people typically working on each shift.
The team works every Wednesday, with additional Friday shifts when funding allows. Each shift lasts four hours, from 8.30am to 12.30pm.
After a shift, workers return to Winkler’s home, where they are paid and served a home-cooked meal.
Each four-hour work opportunity equates to R250—R200 paid directly to the worker, and R50 towards the meal.
Cleaner spaces and greater dignity
Pave The Way has raised about R180,000 since May 2026, funding an estimated 720 paid work opportunities since May.
For participants such as Sipho Ndlovu, the project provides an income and daily structure.
“Earning my own money while fixing up our streets gives me a real reason to get up in the morning,” Ndlovu said. The work, he added, “brings back a bit of pride when you see the clean pavements”.
“Getting a warm meal at the end of a long shift helps more than people realise,” he said.
Kay said workers were grateful for the opportunity and regularly asked whether they could work additional days. “That’s something I’d love to be able to guarantee,” she said.
Call for business support
Pave The Way is seeking sponsorship from businesses so it can create more workdays and expand the team.
Businesses and residents interested in supporting the initiative can find more information on the Cross The Divide website.
IOL