Nature enthusiast gets streets cleaned-up
Residents joined in to clean the areas while ensuring that indigenous plants were protected.
Chairperson of Friends of Groenkloof Nature Reserve Professor Clive Napier and community members got their hands dirty in a mission to clean-up the neighbourhood.
Napier is a Tshwane metro PR councillor and has lived in Groenkloof for three decades. He joined residents to clean the areas while ensuring that indigenous plants were protected. At the intersection, the group levelled the earth following work done on the electricity distribution network. They then pruned some indigenous plants.
Part of the mission of the Friends of Groenkloof Nature Reserve which was founded by Napier is to support the conservation and rehabilitation of Groenkloof Nature Reserve, Klapperkop Nature Reserve and the surrounding green areas, and to promote the conservation and sustainable utilisation, including low impact recreational activities, of the area.
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“Further initiatives are planned in warmer weather for the community and the FGNR to clean up around the parks in the suburb and to remove invader vegetation on Klapperkop,” Napier said.
“The adopt-a-spot policy, once passed by Tshwane council, will empower more communities to take care of their neighbourhoods.”
Ward councillor Shaun Wilkinson said this was a call to action to all community members. Wilkinson said with the city facing tough times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, residents needed to be more proactive in solving some of the challenges they faced.
“Napier wanted to be an inspiration for people to be proactive,” he said.
“If there is an issue in your neighbourhood and its really bugging you, you can complain about it or you can do something about it.”
Wilkinson said he was impressed with Napier’s approach given the untidy state of parks in the area.
“I complimented him and when I asked why he was doing it he asked ‘if not me then who’,” he said.
“While everything is uncertain, get out there and do it. Get permission, keep your social distancing and do it.”
Wilkinson said more such initiatives would be done in parks in the area. He called on all residents who would like to play their part in making the area clean to start wherever they were.
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