October 16, 2003
By Tshepiso Mogotsi
BUSINESS came to a standstill for many of Roodepoort's informal traders on Wednesday, as they set aside their wares and pitched in to help clean up the CBD's streets.
The clean-up operation in the centre of Roodepoort, organised by the Roodepoort Development Forum (RDF), began at 9am with more than 300 people spreading across the battle zone, armed with brooms and rubbish bags. Within two hours the area to the north and west of the railway station as well as Station Street was spotless.
Volunteers from the community, including taxi drivers, local shopkeepers and street traders, joined Roodepoort's Region 5 representatives, metro police officers and Pikitup workers to sweep the streets and pick up litter.
City waste utility Pikitup provided the band of street cleaners with heavy-duty bags and the City of Johannesburg's corporate services supplied protective gloves.
Piles of Pikitup bags were all that remained at the end of the operation. And at the end of the morning the Pikitup trucks quickly removed even these remnants of the once grimy area.
Street trader Manuel Macamo said he would always assist in such operations because there was a direct advantage to his business to have clean surrounds. "It is also our responsibility, as street traders, to keep the area clean, particularly those people selling food. Cleanliness attracts more customers," Macamo said.
This was the second such campaign in the CBD and the RDF planned another onslaught at the end of November.
The clean-up operations is just one part of the RDF's ambitious strategy to attract businesses back to the CBD and restore it to its former status as a thriving business hub.
Other plans include formalising market areas for street traders, upgrading taxi ranks and refurbishing old CBD buildings.
RDF chairman, Joe Mophuting, expressed his gratitude to everyone "who took time out from their busy mornings to get dirty on behalf of the town centre" and said he would like the clean-up to continue on a daily basis and "not wait for another organised campaign".
Environmental health operational manager for Region 5, Richard Tsele, said Wednesday was an eye opener, demonstrating what the community could do for themselves. "The local authority was there just to monitor the situation and act as a facilitator where necessary."
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