WATCH: Residents tackle overgrown green spaces, create jobs

With the Ekurhuleni metro battling to keep up with the overgrown public green spaces in the City, some locals took it upon themselves to give fields, road verges and other public green spaces a cut.

Mary and Vera Martin and Wayne Lamprecht, all members of a local charity group called ‘Handlebars of Hope’, are among the locals who rolled up their sleeves and did the work.
As part of their project to give Boksburg a clean-up, they were seen cutting the overgrown grass road reserve on Edgar Road between Vickers Street and near O’Hare Street on Tuesday.

Speaking to the Boksburg Advertiser on Tuesday. Mary, of Bartlett, said she and her team members contributed money from their pockets monthly to initiate the project after noticing that their city was deteriorating because of poor service delivery.

“We bought the equipment, and as people are unemployed and hungry outside there, we decided to create employment for the poor and, so far, have hired five operators to carry out the job and get salaries to support their families.

“We decided to start in Jansen Park, and our plan entails moving to different areas around Boksburg.
“I know some people would say that it’s the municipality’s responsibility. Of course it is, but they are not doing it. So do we live like this, or do we do something about it?

“This situation has a direct detrimental effect on us, the citizens. Some parks look like jungles, and our kids can’t play there anymore because it’s unsafe. Women who travel to work are targeted, raped and robbed by thugs who ambush them in the long grass.”

Mary said they had discovered that complaining alone would not bring any change. So they decided to assist the broken government and create jobs for the poor.
She asked, “If the community does not take charge when a local government fails to fulfil its obligations, then who will do it?”

Poor planning
Responding to the lists of questions put to the metro, municipal spokesperson Zweli Dlamini admitted last week that the metro faces a grass-cutting backlog. He attributed the failure to delayed planning by the responsible department.
“This is worrisome. We don’t condone what we see in the affected communities. On behalf of the City, we apologise to residents for any inconvenience caused.”

Service providers appointed
Dlamini pointed out that as part of the grass-cutting programme, service providers were appointed to tackle the backlog.
“The grass-cutting programme fell behind schedule, but with the appointed service providers, the City expects to catch up on the backlog soon.
“As we did with the refuse collection, this issue will be escalated to the task team. We are confident that these issues will soon be under control.
“Our teams, consisting of internal staff and service providers, will prioritise cemeteries, parks and main roads,” explained the spokesperson.

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