Pikitup, the city of Johannesburg’s official waste management service provider is intensifying efforts in a city-wide clean-up campaign in a bid to get a handle on litter and infrastructure around the Joburg.
The plan is to get the City of Gold cleaned up by the end of March.
Using the hashtag ‘#KleenaJoburg’, Pikitup has involved numerous groups and businesses in a programme to make the city a better place. Executive Mayor Geoff Makhubo also got his hands dirty and has urged citizens to keep their environment clean.
We are in the second✌ location in Ward 75 at the Phase 1 Flats the activities that will happen here include grass cutting and waste picking. #KleenaJoburg ^LM pic.twitter.com/tDgQyXE1kX
— City of Joburg (@CityofJoburgZA) January 23, 2020
The #KleenaJoburg campaign is meant to be a 100-day programme with the intention of cleaning up the city and making great improvements by the end of March 2020.
The next clean-up is scheduled for the Alexandra township on Saturday 25 January at 7am.
Apart from cleaning up litter, various groups are removing weeds and cutting grass, replacing bulbs in streetlights and even filling potholes. On 4 January the clean-up kicked off in the inner city, and moved on to Hillbrow and Noordgesig.
Cleaners mobilise on specific streets and wards, and in some cases, schools such as Noordgesig Primary received new bins for the grounds. Pick n Pay also donated cleaning fluid for the work teams to use.
‘We are busy with a 100-day programme,’ explained Ward Councillor Mpho Moerane, a member of the Mayoral Committee responsible for Clean Environment. ‘We want to make sure that come end of March 2020, the city will be clean.’
Managing Director of Pikitup, Bukelwa Njingolo said: ‘This is an awareness-creation campaign of ensuring that communities around Jozi keep their spaces clean.’
#KleenaJoburg cleanup took place In Noord and Hoek Street, Peterson, Quartz Street and Koch Street @CityofJoburgZA @JoburgMPD @mphomoerane pic.twitter.com/PASBlxlkQ6
— Pikitup (@CleanerJoburg) January 11, 2020
Executive Mayor @GeoffMakhubo hands over bins from @CleanerJoburg to Noorgesig Primary School. Speaks about the importance of keeping your environment clean and reducing waste the students and comminity of Noorgesig @CityofJoburgZA @mphomoerane @David_Makhura @EducationGP pic.twitter.com/X0waPehJOc
— Pikitup (@CleanerJoburg) January 15, 2020
According to an article in the Midrand Reporter in March 2019, the idea to get Joburg into ship-shape was launched by former Joburg Mayor Herman Mashaba in 2017 in a campaign called ‘A Re Sebetseng.’ The campaign encouraged Johannesburg residents ‘to take ownership of their environment’.
At the time Mashaba sent a team to Kigali, Rwanda to learn the methods used there to keep their city clean, as Kigali is one of Africa’s cleanest cities.
#KleenaJoburg Come hail or high water, but the cleaning continues. Well done and thank you to all regions that contributed today. Great work @CleanerJoburg @CityPowerJhb @CityofJoburgZA @JoburgMPD @CityofJoburgEMS @mphomoerane pic.twitter.com/OT5hWR8AFj
— Pikitup (@CleanerJoburg) January 18, 2020
The city is also trying to clamp down on illegal dumping, and is urging citizens to report illegal dumping activity by phoning: 0860562874 or 0113755555
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Feature image: Pikitup via Facebook
