Sponsorship meeting spells promising future for #cleanbrakpan movement
A few businesses did not manage to attend the meeting but still committed to supporting the initiative.
On January 31, #cleanbrakpan held a sponsorship meeting at the Brakpan Police Station.
They met with some businesses and spoke to others who weren’t able to attend the meeting to discuss sponsorship deals to keep the project going.
Tinus Jordaan, the chairperson of the Brakpan CPF, and Kim van Zyl, a member, started #cleanbrakpan to address crime and the image of the town.
“I have this town in my heart, that’s why I want to see it look good,” Tinus said.
Riaan van Zyl, PR councillor for the Freedom Front Plus and a CPF member, said that the initiative needs businesses to help with sponsorships and donations, and by adopting areas of the town to keep clean and maintained.
Several individuals and businesses have already adopted areas to maintain, such as Tweedy Park, Eden Circle in Dalview, and a stretch of road in Anzac.
“If just 200 businesses adopted an area, half the town would already be clean,” Riaan said.
Sponsors and businesses were given a wish list before the meeting, which included bush cutters, leaf blowers, diesel, petrol and safety equipment.
The group also campaigned for funds, as they want to start employing homeless people and other people on the street to help clean up Brakpan during the week.
They hope that doing this will reduce crime from three angles, by giving homeless people an income and a job so they don’t have to beg or steal, by eliminating hiding places used by criminals as they remove overgrown grass and bushes, and by having a more notable presence in the town to act as a deterrent for criminals.
The group receives a lot of requests from residents in different parts of the town, and they want to help everyone, but they need sponsors, volunteers and people to form an official structure to manage donations and employees.
Gold One Mine and Mall@Carnival representatives were present at the meeting and suggested some ways forward for the movement, including putting a plaque next to stores in the mall that have adopted an area to maintain for the public to identify which businesses support their interests.
