Locals clean up the Booysens Voortrekker graves
Unkept gravesites have been a common gripe for residents in the west of Pretoria.
Booysens residents teamed up recently to give the Voortrekker gravesite on Van Der Hoff Road a facelift.
Residents from Ward 1, 55, the DA Youth Team, the Booysens family and other stakeholders took part in the effort which included picking up litter, grass-cutting, removing dead branches, painting and other maintenance work residents took upon themselves to help out with.
“We want to bring it back to its former self, we owe [it] to our people, the Booysens family, and the Daspoort area as a whole, that’s why we were there and decided to do this,” said Ward 1 councillor, Leon Kruyshaar.
Lack of cemetery maintenance has been a common gripe among residents, with the Zandfontein graves in the west of Pretoria being another site earmarked in the past by residents fed up with the lack of maintenance.
The work didn’t stop there for Kruyshaar and his team, as they also did some cleaning at a substation in Ward 53, Capital Park alongside Ward 59 councillor, Shaun Wilkinson.
“These interventions reflect the municipality’s commitment to mitigating against potential outages and frustrations of the residents and their councillor, but also maintaining a clean, safe, and visually appealing environment for the community,” Wilkinson said.
The gravesite wasn’t the only Voortekker location recently tackled, as the two councillors also joined NGO, ASEZ WAO for a Human Rights Day clean-up at the Voortrekker Monument.
“No matter what culture, what background – we’re all in this together. It is time that we realise we have to protect our shared heritage. It is not about where you come from, but rather it is about where we are going, together,” Kruyshaar said.
At the cleanup at the Voortrekker Monument, Aloysha Barkley Jooste, a volunteer, also shared her thoughts.
She said: “It was heartwarming to see all cultures that came together to work together at one of our most prominent monuments in South Africa. I wanted to join the cleanup today to play my part in a project to help make at least one of our monuments look more presentable and cleaner. The event made me realise that no matter your culture, if you love your country you will work together, with everyone, to make it better.”
Wilkinson believes that clean-up efforts such as these go a long way in boosting the metro’s economy by beautifying the local areas, tourist attractions and landmarks. He calls upon residents to become active citizens are join the metro’s fight in any way they can.
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