Mpumalanga Arbor Day celebration encourages greening
The provincial Arbor Day celebration is an endeavour to encourage communities to plant more trees and to protect their surroundings.
A provincial Arbor Day commemoration was held on Tuesday September 21. The MEC for education, Bonakele Majuba, the MEC for agriculture, rural development, land and environmental affairs, Busi Shiba, and the deputy minister for tourism, Fish Mahlalela, led the commemoration of the Mpumalanga Provincial Arbor Day at Mpuluzi High School in Chief Albert Luthuli Local Municipality.
They all planted and donated trees to the school, and established vegetable gardens for two households in the area. September is Arbor Month, and communities are encouraged to plant trees and start vegetable gardens as a gesture for sustainable environmental management.
This was part of the programme initiated by the Department of Agriculture, Land and Environmental Affairs to plant trees, flowers and vegetables in schools and households within the province.
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Majuba said, “We join the people of the world during September, also known as Heritage Month in celebration of Arbor Week, to remind one another, our learners in particular, of the importance of nature conservation. As we celebrate this day, we need to do well to focus on planting indigenous trees which include some of the oldest, largest and culturally significant trees that form part of our heritage.”
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Shiba has called on community members in Mayflower near Dundonald in the Chief Albert Luthuli Local Municipality, to join hands and plant fruit and indigenous trees for the greening of their area, including establishing vegetable gardens to fight hunger and poverty.
