Mayor helps clean cemetery
ALEXANDRA – City of Johannesburg Executive Mayor Herman Mashaba cleaned the Marlboro Cemetery on Saturday as part of the A Re Sebetseng campaign.
City of Johannesburg Executive Mayor Herman Mashaba traded his suits for overalls on Saturday when he cleaned the Marlboro cemetery as part of the A Re Sebetseng campaign which aims to make the city a world-class city.
Mashaba, together with Ward 109 councillor Werner Smit, PR councillor Shadrack Mkhonto, Miss Earth Foundation and Pikitup.
The campaign was launched last month in Yeoville and became fully functional on 29 September.
“We all know the state the city is in, so the new administration has taken it upon themselves to clean it up,” Mashaba said. He further said that this campaign will run across all 135 wards in the metro.
“People think that we are only targeting the inner city, and that is not the case, to make this city work we have to focus on it as a whole.”
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Mashaba added that in order for the campaign to become a success, communities need to be involved. “As a country, we lack the spirit of volunteerism, but people should not see this as just cleaning. It is about sustaining our environment for future generations.”
He was disappointed at the number of people who took the time to clean the area. “I understand that it will not happen overnight, but community media needs to play a role in informing people and educating the people about such campaigns so that everyone can take part. I am certain that, eventually, we will achieve our goals.”
Mashaba said the more people get involved, the quicker it will be for the city to be in the state that it should be.
Smit added that it is important for communities to be involved in these kinds of campaigns. “They [the campaigns] do not necessarily have to be driven by the ward councillor, anyone in the community can take up the initiative to clean up and we, the council, can set up support and get more people involved.”
Like Mashaba, Smit was disappointed that more people didn’t show up. “I do understand that this is relatively new and people are not used to it, people will take notice of the work done and start getting involved.”
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Mashaba said a clean city will attract foreign investors. “This is a beautiful city, but no investor will put their money in a city that is in a bad state.”
He urged community leaders to start getting involved because it will attract others. “When people see prominent people taking the initiative to assist the community, they will be encouraged to take part.”
Details: Werner Smit 083 308 4160.
