June 12, 2006
By Thabang Mokoka
THE 2006 annual cleaning and greening competition – Bontle ke Botho – has been launched, with a total of R3.2-million on offer to winning municipalities, wards and schools.
The provincial section of the competition was officially launched on Thursday, 8 June by the MEC for agriculture, conservation and environment, Khabisi Mosunkutu.
The Bontle ke Botho campaign, born out of the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg in 2002, is aimed at promoting ecological activism among local communities and school learners.
Bontle ke Botho, which means, "being beautiful is being human", aims at creating a "beautiful" quality of life for all, Mosunkutu said.
"We have a lot of responsibility to improve the management of our environments," Mosunkutu said. By linking the environment and greening interventions with social and economic upgrading, the campaign will have a direct impact on sustainable development in action, he added.
The City plans to launch the Greening Soweto Campaign in September
Mosunkutu urged communities to maintain the environment for future generations. "We are part of the environment we live in; let's take care of it."
In 2005 Johannesburg came out tops in the provincial Bontle ke Botho competition. The City won the Bontle ke Botho Best Performing Municipality award, taking home R200 000, while Ward 45 was the best municipal ward in Gauteng in managing waste and maintaining a clean environment.
Inner City revival
Johannesburg has recently launched a multimillion rand clean-up campaign targeting inner city areas in an effort to combat grime and crime.
The Inner City Clean and Green Campaign is part of the Inner City Revival Campaign aimed at boosting investment, supporting the city's various economic sectors, maintaining and upgrading infrastructure, and ensuring effective, intensive urban management.
In terms of the Inner City Clean and Green Campaign, Johannesburg plans to have the streets swept continuously, to clean the storm water catchment pits, and to get rid of illegal dumping sites on vacant stands. The City also plans to provide rubbish bins throughout the area.
Greening Soweto
Later this year, on 1 September, the City plans to launch the Greening Soweto Campaign, which will see some 300 000 trees planted throughout the township by 2010, when the Soccer World Cup takes place, says City Parks' communications and marketing manager, Jenny Moodley.
Targeting previously neglected areas; the project also aims to create a sense of civic ownership over open spaces by cutting down on littering, illegal dumping, vagrancy and vandalism.
The criteria for the Bontle ke Botho campaign are:
- The Best Performing School Category takes into account the school's raising of awareness and practical efforts at improving the environment;
- The Best Performing Ward Category recognises the efforts made to management the environment and raise public awareness. It also looks at initiatives made to improving the environment;
- The Clean Municipality/Metro Category is based on the cleanliness of the entire municipality or metro. The winning municipality or metro will represent the province in the national cleaning and greening campaign.
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 |
