City officials lend a hand in the Denver hostel clean-up Photo by Enoch Lehung

RELATED LINKS: Environmental Health Unit Under the leadership of Bennet Maphaka, the Environmental Health Unit, in conjunction with the provincial government, is entrusted with safeguarding the city's environment by monitoring the waterways, the quality of the air, smells, buildings and empty spaces across the city to prevent outbreaks of disease. Read more Making work from cleaning up Elderly Mongameli Maxam is shouldering a heavy bag - full of rubbish. Inside the bag, pieces of scrap paper are neatly separated - coloured paper on one side and white paper on the other. Three times each day, Maxam will lug his heavy bag to the Dobsonville Waste Management Buy-Back Centre in Soweto. Each load will earn him about R3. Read more Clean city, proud city - Bontle ke Botho Read more

Hostel clean up Photo by Enoch Lehung

Denver Hostel cleans up its act June 3, 2004 By Chandrea Gerber SEIZING World Environment Day as an ideal opportunity to endow informal settlement residents with dignity, Joburg's Environmental Health Department has initiated a long-term clean-up campaign at Region 9's Denver Hostel. Streets were swept, the hostel was sanitised and safety and hygiene education programmes, which coincided with Paraffin Safety Day on Tuesday, were welcomed by the induna, or hostel headman, who will work with a committee to ensure the clean-up is sustained. "This is a programme to improve the basic conditions here", explained Prema Naidoo, member of the mayoral committee responsible to health in the city. "The Health Department is doing its bit, and is also mobilising other departments to contribute their responsibilities." Emphasising the need to maintain environmental awareness, Dr Refik Bismilla, director of health for the City of Johannesburg linked the programme to broader environmental health issues, such as tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections and HIV/Aids. "This is not a once off thing," he said, stressing the importance of individual responsibility and teamwork in utilising the City's resources. Expanding on the specifics of the campaign, Oupa Montsioa, health manager for Region 9, commented, "The majority of the people use paraffin for many things and we need the people to be proactive in terms of safety." Quick lessons were also given to 17 food stall operators who were shown how to prepare and cook food hygienically, how to clean up, how to dump their refuse and how to maintain personal hygiene. Certificates were awarded as an added motivation. "They need to be educated further, and this will push them to do it," said Montsioa. In the long term, the programme also intends employing the services of City Parks to add greenery to enhance the surroundings. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za