The City of Johannesburg ranks 6th on the list of cities in the world with the most amount of trees with 23.6 per cent of the city being green or wooded according to the World Economic Forum.
Trees are found in the many parks across Joburg and Ward 99 councillor, Nicole van Dyk encouraged residents to visit the parks as often as they can.
The request comes as a result of residents complaining about displaced people forming a camp at Emma Park’s heritage site.
With people currently living in the park, many residents are too afraid to visit or take their children to the park.
Van Dyk explained that residents can reclaim their area and their parks by regularly visiting them.
She said a lot of movement at a park would also prevent petty crimes from happening as people would always be watching.
She explained that with residents visiting more parks in their areas, she plans on getting Metro police to enforce more bylaws.
Other than reclaiming the space, Van Dyk explained that the parks in her ward are relatively well maintained and that it is a waste and tragedy that residents do not visit them.
She said it is understandable that residents do not feel safe visiting the park by themselves and should visit them in groups.
She also explained that residents are more than welcome to use the park for activities and gave an example of the dog training school that takes place on weekends at Emma Park.
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