Mayor’s Task Team to clean-up capital city

As part of keeping the capital city clean, the Gaborone City Council (GCC) and the Mayor’s Task Team are starting a massive clean-up campaign on the streets this week.

The initiative came after Mayor Austin Abraham complained about the city’s state when it comes to cleanliness and urged the council to come up with ways in which government departments, the private sector, together with the business community can join hands to clean up the city.

The initiative was welcomed by many as the Mayor’s Task Team was formed. Led by Business Botswana president, Gobusamang Keebine, the main objective of the Mayor’s Task Team is to help find ways in which the Mayor’s dreams for the capital are achieved.

Briefing the media on Friday, Abraham said one of the objectives of the committee is to help improve service delivery as action will be taken against culprits who litter.

“If the public and private sector and government departments are partnering with us, then we will win this battle. We should be proud as Batswana of the cleanliness of this city. The other issue that we will focus on is to attend to the drainage system in the city,” Abraham said.

He added that there is no way in which the city can attract investors when it is dirty. In addition, he said the council has been having a challenge with resources to address the issue and it could not fight the battle alone.

When stressing about the matter, the Mayor’s Task Team chairperson, Keebine said since the committee consists of different members from government departments such as the Botswana Police Service, the Botswana Defence Force, the Botswana Prisons Service and some players in the private sector. He said as such the issue of resources might not be a big challenge.

“The cleaning campaign is starting this week (on Monday) and our aim is to cover all areas before September 29. Again, the other issue will be to educate people about the dangers of littering and also to inform them that serious action will be taken against such culprits. It is time the law be enforced. We will be having a call centre that will help reach the committee together with the council. Our committee will be working hand-in-hand with council structures,” he said.