June 2, 2004
By Lucille Davie
JOHANNESBURG City Parks scored big on messages from prestigious speakers at its World Environment Day celebration on Tuesday at Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve, a precursor to the big day on Saturday, 5 June.
At the last moment they managed to secure as their keynote speaker Rejoice Mabudafhasi, the Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, who spoke on "Sustainable living, the key to a better future". The Gauteng MEC for Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs, Khabisi Mosunkutu, also gave an address, as well as the speaker for the Joburg City Council, Nandi Mayathula-Khoza.
The theme of all speakers was a passion for the environment, and the urgent need to save it, by means of keeping litter bags in the car to prevent wanton littering out of car windows.
Mabudafhasi bubbled with enthusiasm. "Sustainable development is not a fixed state of harmony," she said, "but rather a process of change. This change involves a change of mindset, a change of perceptions, behaviour and a change of actions."
She explained that it was a process of "balancing the trade-offs between social justice, economic viability and environmental sustainability in decision-making", based on the idea that a healthy society is not viable in a world with excessive environmental degradation.
She stressed that a big challenge was to balance the needs of the environment against development goals, with clear policies that don't jeopardise the welfare of future generations.
Speaker Nandi Mayathula-Khoza, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi, MEC Khabisi Mosunkutu, and Councillor Christine Walters at Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve
She had a message for the schoolchildren who attended the function: "You must understand that if you take care of nature, nature will take care of you."
Explaining Bontle ke Botho, the province's environment awareness "clean and green" campaign, MEC Mosunkutu called on everyone to leave a legacy the next generation would be proud of. Using a borrowed expression, he emphasised: "We do not inherit the earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children."
A series of school competitions have been held in Gauteng, where schools have been judged on how clean they've kept their grounds. Monetary prizes have been ploughed back into the schools and their projects.
Speaker Mayathula-Khoza spoke about the legacy the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg: "The World Summit was not just a talk show, it was translated into action."
She listed with pride the projects undertaken by the City after the summit: the Moroka Dam/Thokoza Park Wetlands Rehabilitation project, and Dorothy Nyembe Park, both in Soweto, that have been transformed into pleasant green lungs in the township. She said that the upgrading of these areas has enhanced nearby property values, led to a drop in crime, and encouraged a "sense of civic pride and ownership".
Twelve inner city parks have been given new life in Project Eden. "Parks in the city are going through a major revival with family get-togethers and outings becoming fashionable again," Mayathula-Khoza said.
The introduction of game to several reserves in the city has been welcomed: Klipriviersberg, Rietfontein and Melville Koppies, which had a disabled-friendly trail installed a year ago.
In support of the late Joe Slovo's belief that "a home is not a home without a tree", City Parks hopes to develop suburbs with 2.47ha of open space to every 1 000 residents. This is particularly a challenge in suburbs like densely-populated Soweto and Alexandra and new suburbs like Lonehill, which are undergoing rapid and compact townhouse development.
The growing problem of a shortage of burial space has also been tackled and the City is also encouraging residents to consider second burials in family graves. Two new cemeteries, in Waterval and Diepsloot, will be developed north of the city.
The speakers were thanked by councillor for Community Development, Roads and Parks, Christine Walters.
City Parks will be running a competition called "My Dream Park" in which Grade 3-6 learners from 600 Gauteng schools will be invited to create a model of a dream park using recyclable materials, to be submitted by September this year, to coincide with Arbor Week. Fifteen learners from each school will be chosen to work on the project, and the prize will be the creation of a garden by City Parks in the winning school's grounds.
Additional prizes will be given by sponsors, which at this stage are Rand Water, Pikitup and Nokia.
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