Homeless Man Uses His Days to Clean Beaches

There’s a homeless 28-year-old man who has been quietly getting on with cleaning up Bantry Bay in South Africa and asking for nothing in return.

Local Capetonian Jay Margolis discovered Siyabulela Dan Magobiyane – and his mission to clean up the mess – on Monday afternoon.

Jay was intrigued after watching Siyabulela hard at work, and later uploaded the following message (and the photos on this page) to Facebook.

“So this afternoon I was in Bantry Bay waiting for a client to arrive and I see this chap putting two big bags into the rubbish bin. Fifteen minutes later, he arrives with another two big bags of rubbish and puts them in the bin…

“When I come back, 45 minutes later, I see him filling another two big packets and wait for him to have a chat.

“Turns out, “he’s embarrassed about the pollution, and wants the beaches looking good for the tourists, and for the sea” – Quoted.

“He hasn’t been asked to do this, and doesn’t have a job.

“He goes on to tell me that he cleans the beaches every day, and for no reason other than he wants to “make the place nice”, and then with massive pride, pulls out his temp ID, to show me his name. He goes on to tell me that he got this, but still has to collect his Green ID book.

“Bought him lunch and left feeling so proud of people like this that live in our beautiful country.

“What a legend, Siyabulela Dan Magobiyane! City of Cape Town, give this man a job!”

Jay told SAPeople Siyabulela asks for nothing and is awesome. Totally!

All photos © Jay Margolis