A clean-up weekend comes to Emmarentia
The Emmarentia Residents Association wants you to be part of the clean-up, which aims to uplift the community.
Take out your work gloves, refuse bags and garden tools because the Emmarentia Residents Association (ERA) is hosting a clean-up/weeding weekend you have to be part of on April 12 and 13.
Read more: Community takes action to clean up illegal dumping in Sophiatown
The weekend will see the clean-up of the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens’ top dam, Melville Koppies Nature Reserve and Heritage site, as well as the open land along Louw Geldenhuys Drive and Olifants Road bridge.
It is important for the association to host such a weekend because, as member Jenny Grice put it, with there being a lot of pressure on green spaces in Joburg, areas that are not well-used and maintained can become unofficial dump sites or areas where people set up shelters. ERA chairperson Saber Manjoo echoed her sentiments, adding it was also apparent that the city did not have the resources or capacity to conduct thorough clean-ups. “Hence, if we do not do anything about it, we will soon have an absolute disaster,” he said.
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Grice added it was important to get support from the broader community. “We have regular water and power outages, and in this situation, it’s good to fix things for ourselves that we and others can benefit from.”
Majoo concurred and said, “We also want to use this opportunity to enlist the services of community members who want to do good for the environment but just don’t know how to; hence, we will advise them on what they can do to uplift the area on an individual and continuous basis.”The plan of action is as follows:
- A group of dog-walkers and park-walkers will work with City Parks at the top dam in the dog-walking section of Emmarentia/Jhb Botanical Gardens on Saturday morning.
- Melville Koppies Nature Reserve and Heritage site – After the massive rains experienced this year, invasive weeds are flourishing.
- The Dabulamanzi Canoe Club will coordinate the area along Louw Geldenhuys and Olifants Road bridge clearing the area of litter on Sunday morning.
Details: Dabulamanzi Canoe Club (09:00 – 11:00) Elandrie 079 588 8918.
Melville Koppies Nature Reserve (08:00 – 11:30) Elsje 082 490 4675.
Emmarentia Top Dam (09:00m – 13:00) Sam 072 581 0624.
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