EKURHULENI Metropolitan Municipality is the second greenest municipality in South Africa.
The announcement was made by the National Department of Environmental Affairs during the fifth Greenest Municipality Competition (GMC) at the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality in Mpumalanga recently.
The City of Ekurhuleni took position two in the competition after eThekwini Municipality, walking away with a whopping R3-million and a certificate of recognition.
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The prize money will be used for projects that promote environmental related projects and green economy initiatives. Third was Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality.
The metro is known to be among leaders advocating clean and green programmes such as the Mayoral Clean City Programme and the night shift Central Business District (CBD) cleaning programmes.
“Taking position two in the competition simply means we have set the tone during the first round and many have learnt from us. We will accelerate our efforts to claim our number one spot in the competition,” said the member of the mayoral committee for environmental development, Clr Ndosi Shongwe.
Ndosi attributed the accolade to the dedicated efforts of various departments, including waste management services, health and social services, environmental resource management, water and energy.
The criteria for assessment included good waste management, energy efficiency conservation, water management, landscaping, tree planting and beautification, public participation and community empowerment and schools, leadership and institutional arrangements and presentation.
Over 100 metropolitan and local municipalities competed.
