Polokwane city, the greenest municipality in Limpopo
The Polokwane Municipality was crowned the Greenest Municipality in Limpopo and received a trophy and R200 000 prize money recently.
POLOKWANE – The Polokwane Municipality was crowned the Greenest Municipality in Limpopo and received a trophy and R200 000 prize money on 20 November.
The Greenest Municipality Competition (GMC) is an annual programme coordinated by the Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (Ledet), aimed at assisting municipalities to achieve sustainable development targets while at the same time improving service delivery in a cost effective and environmentally friendly manner.
The GMC is divided into three levels:
District, provincial and national.
Districts are expected to conduct GMC assessments every year to determine the winner, which will represent the district in the provincial assessments. The winner in the provincial assessments represent the province at the national assessments.
Municipalities were assessed on efforts and programmes in place for the following:
• Energy conservation
• Water management
• Public participation
• Community empowerment in environmental and conservation programmes
• Leadership involvement and institutional arrangements
Matshidiso Mothapo, a municipal spokesperson, said the Polokwane Municipality displayed outstanding achievements in these criteria as compared to other municipalities and thus qualified to compete nationally.
“The municipality also won an award for its improvement in energy saving programmes, beautification, tree planting and landscaping at the awards,” Mothapo said.
Polokwane Mayor, Thembi Nkadimeng, said the municipality is proud of the achievement and will use the assessment report to improve in order to ensure the municipality stands a better chance in the national assessments, which will take place soon.
“Securing the provincial position is an indication we are working tirelessly to ensure the municipality is kept clean despite all the challenges we face. The municipality is going to be assessed for the national level and cannot achieve this goal by itself and therefore it is crucial for the community to also play their role by ensuring their space is kept clean and environmentally friendly at all times,” Nkadimeng said.
