Like-minded individuals from across the Lowveld who want to see a positive change in their City of Mbombela gathered at the Capital Hotel on February 24 for the official launch of Our City of Mbombela, an exciting new project that is expected to restore the City to its former glory.
The project has been in the works for the past few months, garnering support from various businesses and organisations in Mbombela, as well as from the City of Mbombela.
Speaking at the launch of the new initiative, renowned Lowvelder Sandra Jacobs thanked the 80-strong audience for coming together to hear more about the project and how to become involved.
“Our vision for this project is to inspire and lead a sustainable City clean-up plan which will create clean, well-maintained, and safe public spaces for all citizens of the municipality,” she said.
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“There are problems in Mbombela. Our spaces are not monitored, crime is on the rise, businesses are suffering and we seem to have low morale. It is very easy to blame the local government and the municipality, but the true solution is that we, the community, get involved. We are responsible as a community, for how our area looks, it is our house and we need to keep it clean,” she said.
The problems in the City identified by the project in a power point presentation at the launch, are that spaces in the municipality are not well maintained, the infrastructure is failing, crime is on the rise and businesses as well as tourism is suffering.
The objective is to clean up, enhance, protect, and manage the City of Mbombela’s parks and green areas through initiatives and collaborations with organisations with similar vision.
It also aims to foster community pride, build a sense of ownership, deter crime and create safe spaces, prevent antisocial behaviour such as vandalism and littering and improve community perception and awareness of prevention programmes in public places.
The solution, according to the new initiative is community involvement, and being a responsible citizen. Lowvelder is also a proud media partner in the new project. Read the newspaper on Thursday March 3 for the full story and how you can make a difference.
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