Community lends hand with clean-up project
In a joint effort to enhance their neighbourhood appearance, residents assisted municipal workers to cut grass and plant trees in ward 23 last Friday.
“We appreciate their efforts as they collectively continue to ensure protection and cleanliness of our environment. We need trees in our environment and we need our environment to be taken care of,” Polokwane Mayor John Mpe said and added grass has to be cut regularly and the environment cleaned as the saying goes ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’.
Mpe explained that trees provide many benefits, some of which one can’t see but they make a huge difference.
“Trees replenish groundwater and filter the air from harmful pollutants and odours. With that said, on behalf of council, we appreciate the cooperation from the member of the mayoral committee for waste and environment, councillor Jeneffer Malope, ward 23 councillor Roelof Lourens, municipal employees and the community of ward 23 for executing an important task,” Mpe said. The mayor said they are looking at better ways to keep the city clean.
“The municipality has, for years, been scooping up awards for the greenest municipality and national arbour city for its tree planting campaign and programmes to keep the city clean. This financial year alone, the municipality has already planted more than a thousand trees across the municipal area. More than 500 fruit trees have been donated to communities, tribal offices and schools in the municipality’s effort to address food security challenges and the municipality has always been participating in the national call for planting a thousand trees with the aim to eventually become an eco-friendly city.”