Joburg City intensifies clean-up campaign

The City of Johannesburg’s mission to keep the city clean seems to be on the right track.

The City is calling upon all the residents of Johannesburg to participate in their monthly volunteer clean-up campaign called ‘A Re Sebetseng‘ on 16 March.

Joburg Mayor Herman Mashaba launched ‘A Re Sebetseng’ in 2017 to encourage residents of Johannesburg to take ownership of their environment, and contribute their time toward improving the cleanliness of their communities.

Mashaba’s seriousness to see a city that is clean compelled him to send the A Re Sebetseng team to Kigali, Rwanda to learn how they keep their city clean. Kigali is considered one of the cleanest cities in Africa.

“The inspiration behind A Re Sebetseng was the example set by Rwanda and their monthly country-wide clean-up campaign known as Umuganda,” said Mashaba.

“I experienced the power of this campaign first-hand on a visit to Kigali some years ago. I was astonished by how clean and well maintained the city was.”

The A Re Sebetseng team met with officials of from the City of Kigali and took part in Umuganda. A Re Sebetseng team member, Vicky Shuping said visiting Kigali was an eye-opener.

“The City of Johannesburg may yet emulate this model by institutionalising A Re Sebetseng. But residents will also have to come on board by cleaning up after themselves, stopping to litter and coming out to clean on days allocated for A Re Sebetseng,” she said.

Ward 132 councillor Annette Deppe is also calling on the local community to join a Jukskei River clean-up on 16 March.

She said that although there were many entities involved in the maintenance of the river, she would like to start a clean-up group that will be made up of local residents who would maintain the river between Leeuwkop and Waterval on a regular basis.

“This area is in need of much-needed attention,” she said.

“Whenever the heavy rains appear there is a lot of waste and debris that need to be cleaned up.”

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