Driving through the central business district of Durban is a heartbreaking affair due to the state of decay and failure to maintain the world-class look Durban once had, as most Durbanites would tell you.
With dirt lying strewn across almost every street and drug dens growing in size and power, it is easy to lose hope.
But if you look close enough, past the muck and grime enabled by those in charge, you will see the goodness that is in the hearts and minds of the people who still call Durban home.
A car guard/recycle picker known only as "Small" is a perfect example of this.
Small works as a car guard at the John Ross House on the Victoria Embankment in Durban. He and a friend named Holdfast work in the shopping complex, which is home to the legendary Roma Revolving Restaurant.
Small lives further up the road from where John Ross House is.
About 15 kilometres north, from a completely different part of the world compared to the one Small is used to, Katey Watkin was making her way to the La Lucia Mall for some regular Saturday shopping.
Durban was a bit chilly on the day, so Watkin decided to throw on a jacket before she left for the mall.
"I generally just tuck my wallet under my arm whenever I go somewhere. I think it was because of the jacket that I didn’t feel they took it from me," Watkin told IOL.
Katey Watkin was pickpocketed on Saturday, August 26, but did not realise it until shortly after, when "notifications on my phone were going off like crazy".
In a matter of about 10 minutes, 11 transactions went off from Katey’s accounts, all of which were under R500 to avoid the need to key in the pin number attached to the respective bank card.
"The transactions went off at the Tops Marina. I was just so stressed. I remember just trying to block the cards as fast as possible," Watkin explained.
"They also took out R1,500 cash"
Standing outside in the parking lot of John Ross House, was Small.
After the perpetrators who stole Watkin’s wallet were done buying alcohol, they discarded a number of her cards, including her South African Identity Document card and other rewards cards.
Small saw these lying on the ground and then picked them up. After he finished work at John Ross House at 4pm, Small decided to walk three kilometres east to the Surf HQ shop on Point Road to give the wallet to a well-known member of the community, Jean-Marc "JM" Tostee, who owns Surf HQ.
‘JM’ said Small told him he wanted to trace the owner.
IOL asked Tostee why he thinks Small brought the stolen wallet to him.
"During the looting and unrest, a lot of the shops around here were getting destroyed and vandalised. I came to work after a couple days because I just couldn’t stay away from the shop any longer.
"When I got here, I saw that my shop wasn’t damaged. I spoke to one of the car guards, and he said the people knew not to touch this shop because of how we are always helping out the community in whatever way we can," Tostee said.
"The shop does have a bit of a reputation amongst locals; I think that’s why he brought it here."
After Small gave Tostee the wallet, the 60-year-old did what any sane human would do in the 21st century: post it on social media.
A post by the Surf HQ Facebook page managed to capture the attention of Katey Watkin, who was ecstatic, to say the least, that her belongings were found.
"I think it was Tuesday night that JM contacted me. First we spoke on Facebook about it, then we exchanged numbers. I went into Surf HQ on Wednesday after I was robbed to pick up my cards," Watkin said.
On Thursday, August 31, Katey Watkin celebrated her birthday and was woken up by her mother, who read an article about her stolen and recovered cards published by IOL on August 30.
"I remember waking up and getting a call from my mom." She was like, Happy birthday, my darling. Do you know you're on the cover of IOL News?" Watkin recalled.
"I could not believe the number of messages, texts, DMs, and tags I received from the story. People who haven’t spoken to me in years—people I lost contact with—all reached out about the wallet story.
"Someone from London who I have on Facebook reached out and said she heard about my stolen cards," she said.
Since the story of Katey Watkin’s stolen cards broke on IOL, she has received hundreds of messages and calls from people, many of whom are interested in joining her company, "Stellar Consultants," in its corporate social responsibility plans for literacy month.
"I don’t think Small understands how big an impact his actions had that day. It was just a simple gesture from him, and he had no reason to do that. I’m not saying anything bad about being a car guard, but he has so little, and he was still willing to walk three kilometres to return my stolen cards.
"That says everything about him and the people that live in this city," Watkin said.
Small was compensated for his selfless act on Saturday, September 26 by Watkin. He does not know his surname and does not have an ID to identify him further.
IOL asked her what the best part about getting her cards back was, besides having to avoid standing in line at Home Affairs to apply for a new ID card.
"I think definitely the fact that there is still goodness left in the world," Watkin said.
IOL