Mayor launches clean-up drive

JOBURG Mayor Herman Mashaba, together with community leaders and various stakeholders, were today due to launch a monthly clean-up volunteer campaign at the Yeoville Recreation Centre, to encourage the reduction of grime and litter in Joburg.

The campaign will seek to unite residents within the city to work together with government and skilled stakeholders in ensuring the city becomes clean.

The city initiated increased services with Pikitup, which is proving successful, said spokesperson Siyanda Makhubo. “The largest component of this campaign will focus on cleaning the city, to position it as a job-creating investment and a city which its residents can be proud to call home.”

The campaign will also strive to encourage residents to take better care of the environment by promoting a culture of reducing, re-using and recycling waste in ensuring that Joburg becomes one of the cleanest cities in Africa.

“Through the launch of this campaign, the city will lead the way in ensuring that it becomes a widely embraced initiative through engagement with residents.”

This clean-up comes after Mashaba has been actively involved with making the city a safer space to live in.

Earlier this month, the city conducted extensive land audits of the inner city to identify and prioritise hijacked buildings that could be converted into rental stock.

Mashaba said these buildings would be made available to the private sector for development, with the city offering incentives to promote the development of residential rental. This formed part of a new plan launched by the city to reclaim the inner city.

Mashaba revealed a list of 85 buildings that have been hijacked and said the city would be gunning for the illegal owners and occupants.