Efforts by the City of Ekurhuleni to make every day a Mandela Day were given a major boost with the launch of a month-long Citizen Responsibility Campaign (CRC) on Wednesday, 31 August 2013, which saw over 1500 community members endorsing the drive.
Launched under the theme “Making Ekurhuleni a Clean Place to Live in” the campaign is aimed at mobilising communities to take responsibility towards keeping their environment clean. The municipality, led by the Speaker of Council Councillor Patricia Kumalo, members of the Ekurhuleni Legislature, and community members, accompanied by the Trek4Mandela Team that just returned from conquering Mount Kilimanjaro for Madiba, rolled up their sleeves and dug into the dirt to rid Dukathole area near Germiston of its illegal dumping spots. Jane Ramushi a community member who together with her neighbours took part in the cleaning campaign acknowledged that the only way areas like Dukathole can be clean is if “us as community members play an active role in keeping them that way”.
The CRC campaign is part of a drive initiated by the Gauteng Speakers Forum, led by the Provincial Legislature Speaker, Lindiwe Maseko, aimed at Making Gauteng a Clean Place to Live in. The programme was launched during Mandela Month in honour of Former President Nelson Mandela.
“The legislature is about public participation and it is important that citizens work hand in hand with us and take responsibility of their environment hence we launched the local leg of the campaign under the theme Making Ekurhuleni a Clean Place to Live in,” explains Ekurhuleni Speaker of Council Councillor Kumalo, adding that this happens in the wake of the City of Ekurhuleni having recently been named South Africa’s Greenest City. Following the cleaning of Dukathole community leaders signed a pledge on behalf of residents committing to them to work towards inculcating a culture of civic education and responsibility, caring and preserving the Ekurhuleni environment and it resources among other things. The campaign will be rolled out to Daveyton, Katlehong and Tembisa throughout the month of August.
