Sprucing up Main Road and areas in Knysna
#KeepKnysnaClean wants a better place for all residents
KNYSNA - "If many little people in many little places do many little things they can change the face of the earth.”
This is the motto of Revive Knysna and #KeepKnysnaClean which is being spearheaded by Penny Rice, a committee member of the Knysna Accommodation Association (KAA).
Rice says in the last few weeks a group of locals have come on board and spruced up Main Road.
"In light of the negative publicity that Knysna has been subjected to lately and especially the Carte Blanche exposé of Knysna, we had to do something about it," says Rice, and hence the #KeepKnysnaClean campaign was launched.
Rice says that, following the Carte Blanche programme earlier this year which highlighted rubbish woes and service delivery issues, accommodation establishments had cancellations and she herself has lost R40m worth of sales in her real estate business as a direct result of this negative publicity.
Rice's vision for #KeepKnysnaClean is to 'make Knysna a better place for all the residents of Knysna to live in, to reduce the litter in the Knysna Lagoon and ultimately create more employment'.
The first goal was to clean up the main entrances to Knysna (Main Road) so that visitors were impressed with the town and able to go back and tell their friends how neat Knysna was looking.
"The longer-term goal is to encourage the residents of Knysna to take responsibility for their own patch and keep our little patch of paradise pristine," says Rice.
Regular litter clean-ups now take place every Wednesday at 16:30. Join the #KeepKnysnaClean WhatsApp group to find out more.
One of the successful projects took place on a recent Saturday when a group of 50 volunteers hit Main Road to pick up litter and weed the pavements. They cleared rubble, cleaned street signs, removed graffiti and even pressure-washed the pavements.
Community and business leaders who have bought into the #KeepKnynsaClean movement include Issaquena Heights Boutique Hotel, that has identified a section of the
N2 and undertaken to keep it #pavementproud.
Derrick Coetzer of Brenton Beach House has started repairing the steps up from the beach.
"We encourage all guest houses, BnBs, lodges and hotels - in fact any-body whose livelihood depends on tourism - to support #KeepKnysnaClean as this can only benefit all of us," says Rice.
There are various ways the community can pitch in to help: join in one of the clean-ups, volunteer your gardener for a day, or sponsor an unemployed person R250 a day to help clean up the town.
The bottom line and message to businesses and homeowners is to be pavement proud and encourage your neighbours to do the same. "Not only will it make your area a nicer place to live in, but a clean and tidy neighbourhood helps increase the value of your property enormously," says Rice. "#KeepKnysnaClean has teamed up with Revive Knysna, which we all know is a hugely successful initiative that really has made a significant difference to our beautiful town." Locals who would like to 'help restore Knysna to its former glory as the jewel of the Garden Route' are invited to WhatsApp Rice on
082 458 0671 to see when the next clean-up will be. They meet every Wednesday at 16:30 at different venues to concentrate on litter hotspots around the lagoon.