Invasive alien vegetation is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. In celebration of Mandela Day, an enthusiastic group of FABIans, along with some colleagues from the Departments of Plant and Soil Sciences (PSC), Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology (BGM) and Bioinformatics, gathered at the Innovation Africa @UP campus on the morning of 17 July to clear invasive weeds from an important research environment.  The weed-clearing effort was focused on a 2Ha tract of low-lying grassland located adjacent to the Engineering 4.0 building. This is one of the last lowland grasslands in-and-around Pretoria; similar grasslands have been almost entirely lost to urbanisation and the University of Pretoria has agreed to conserve it for the foreseeable future. In general, the grassland biome in South Africa is the second largest, and the second most diverse. Sadly, it  has also suffered the most habitat loss of all biomes in the country and has the lowest level of protection. Invasives are amongst the greatest threats to this biome, emphasising the importance of the weed-clearing effort in celebration of the life of one of South Africa’s greatest leaders. The grassland area where the weeds were (only partially) cleared is a widely-used resource for teaching and research purposes by various University of Pretoria departments, including students and staff associated with FABI. Everyone rolled up their sleeves and spent just over an hour clearing invasive woody weeds including Syringa (Melia azedarach) and Bug weed (Solanum mauritianum) as the first step to eventually remove all these invasive plant species from the important grassland.