Lerato Mailoane
Deputy President Paul Mashatile has urged the public to help keep South Africa clean.
He made the clarion call during a cleanup event in Kliptown, Soweto, on Friday as part of the national Clean Cities and Towns Campaign, which aims to promote urban cleanliness and foster community.
The campaign, launched at the Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication in Kliptown, follows the commitments made by the Deputy President of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) Lekgotla, earlier this year, where he highlighted the need to tackle both environmental and socio-economic challenges.
In his entourage were Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero, Members of the Executive Council (MEC) as well as senior officials from all spheres of government participating in the cleanup.
Gauteng Premier thanked the deputy president for choosing to launch the initiative in Gauteng and in a show of support the Premier was joined by all MECs.
“Be assured of our support, we are in full support of this initiative because this is the kind of leadership that will assist to resolve the challenges we have in our province.”
The Premier also thanked the Joburg municipality for ensuring that they cleanup the Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication in Kliptown ahead of the Deputy President’s visit.
Addressing the start of the day-long cleanup campaign, Mashatile said the campaign extends beyond mere cleaning to address broader service delivery issues and create opportunities for community employment.
“The idea is not to employ people; it’s a voluntary programme. People must clean where they live. There may be instances where the city may employ people here and there, but we want to create a culture of cleaning where people don’t have to be paid to clean where they live.”
Encouraging residents to take pride in their local environments, the deputy president said the initiative aims to create a cultural shift towards urban maintenance by directly involving residents in the upkeep of their communities.
“The approach we are taking is that the government must not alone clean for people, but the government must clean with the people. We must work with them in the various communities,” he explained.
As part of the District Development Model (DDM), of which the Deputy President is a champion, he said the campaign will be rolled out in other parts of the country.
“Once we have launched, the mayor will drive the programme in other cities as we move to other provinces,” said Mashatile, emphasising voluntary community participation as an integration of cleanliness education in schools, collaboration between national, provincial, and local governments, and regular monitoring of progress in different cities.
“We must also teach people right from school. We must teach the young people about cleanliness so that they can look forward to cleaning the environment, to having clean cities as well,” he added.
SALGA President, Bheki Stofile said they have also heeded the deputy’s president’s call.
“No investor that will invest in a community if the community is dirty and the political environment is not conducive, and we have partnered up with the deputy president’s initiative to make cleaning fashionable as part of individuals taking ownership of their spaces.”
SOURCED FROM THE GPG WEBSITE.
