November 5, 2004
By Anish Abraham
A COMMUNITY gardening project aims to green Johannesburg's less affluent suburbs by encouraging residents to plant vegetables and flowers, with a little help from the city's various gardening clubs.
The project, called Flowering Johannesburg, is a result of a partnership between the Zoo Lake Users Committee, City Parks, Joburg Water, Party Design and the Garden Clubs of Johannesburg.
Various garden clubs from around the city will twin with a specific community, taking plants to them and giving prospective gardeners advice on planting and maintenance of their gardens.
Lucy Taylor, chairperson of the Zoo Lake Users Committee, said: "We are hoping to develop such initiatives so that less advantaged people can support themselves."
The first to be chosen for the project was a house in Bram Fischerville, housing 11 siblings who were orphaned when their parents died of Aids-related illnesses.
Rita Moyo, the oldest in the family, has taken care of her 10 siblings - seven of whom attend a local school - in a matchbox-style house for the past three years.
The Moyo house in Bram Fischerville
She is thankful for the help of Flowering Johannesburg: "It will really help us to put food on the table - and we can even sell the extra vegetables," she says.
At a sod turning ceremony on 2 November Oscar Oliphant, manager: stakeholder liaison at Johannesburg City Parks, opened the function on a light note, saying: "Because there are many women on the project, it means work will progress, unlike if us men are involved", causing much laughter and applause among the small crowd.
Mayoral committee member Christine Walters has taken the project to heart: "This is a part of nation building and instilling civic pride in people," she enthuses.
Walters adds that it is important for communities to form partnerships with business to improve the standard of living, and this does not necessarily mean looking for support from big business.
"The people who have put the project together are normal people like you and me - and that is what we need," Walters says.
Taylor says the success of the Bram Fischerville project could lead to similar programmes in various townships. She adds the projects rely on people from the various communities approaching Flowering Johannesburg for help with their gardens, rather than for the project members to choose their next target.
According to Jenny Moodley, spokesperson for Johannesburg City Parks: "Research has shown that by upgrading and increasing the aesthetics of neighbourhoods, problems such as vandalism, illegal dumping, littering and theft are contained."
Johannesburg City Parks will provide technical expertise. Ben Maselesa, a trainer at the Horticultural Training Centre at Zoo Lake says the Centre will help with gardening supplies and even some equipment.
He was thrilled to note that there was a lot of interest from different communities.
The organisers believe a sustained relationship between the various garden clubs and the communities they work with is key to the success of the programme.
Flowering Johannesburg is appealing to the public to support the project by donating hardy plants, slips, seeds and seedlings to the Horticultural Training Centre at Zoo Lake. The Centre has agreed to take care of the plants, as part of their outreach programme, until they are required by the various garden clubs.
In closing the recent ceremony, Walters noted: "One of the many aims of the project is to bridge the gap between the northern suburbs and the poorer southern suburbs, reversing the legacy of apartheid."
For more information contact Lucy Taylor of the Zoo Lake Users' Committee on 011 726 6284 or Ben Maselesa of Johannesburg City Parks on 011 646 3848.
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