Some of the homeless in Port Elizabeth and elderly in Bethelsdorp now have extra protection against the cold this winter thanks to the knitting skills of a few employees from the Shoprite Group.

Vuyisa Mnyele not only serves as a frontline supermarket worker, but has since the start of the lockdown supported ten households with regular food hampers, and he plans to do so for as long as he can.

Some 574 staff members from Shoprite, Checkers and Usave stores in the Eastern Cape and parts of the Southern Cape removed close to 1 000 bags of waste from 104 communities this week.

Packa-Ching in partnership with Shoprite launched its fourth mobile buyback centre in Katlehong, Johannesburg earlier today. This mobile recycling unit will travel between low-income communities and surrounding schools in Katlehong, Tokoza and Vosloorus to buy recyclable packaging materials from residents.

In line with the Shoprite Group’s commitment to ensure that 100% of its plastic packaging is reusable and/or recyclable by 2025, it is now using the 4 000 tons of plastic returned annually to its distribution centres to produce its 100% recycled and recyclable plastic shopping bags.

The Shoprite Group will honour Mandela Day throughout the month of July, with its 147 000-strong staff giving their time to initiatives supported by the business or initiating their own activities in line with the retailer’s objective to be a force for change.

When Paulina Ntontela from Goshen Village, near Cathcart in the Eastern Cape, was forced to leave her job to look after her children, she knew she was making the right decision - even though she was losing a monthly income.

Olwethu Ntliziyombi was just 15 years old when her mother abandoned their family and she was left with no other choice than to figure out how to take care of herself and her three younger siblings, as her father had left long before.