Volunteers cut overgrown grass outside school
The clean-up campaign started on Friday and ended on Sunday, whereby patrollers and community members came with their own garden tools to clean up outside the school.
A local organisation looking after community safety held a three-day clean-up campaign at FF Ribeiro Primary School in Mamelodi West this past weekend.
Chairperson of A4 patrollers, Louis Maseko, said they could not stand the overgrown grass surrounding the school premises.
Maseko said the school looked neglected and community members were turning the school surroundings into an illegal dumping site.
“We have approached the school principal about cleaning outside premises of the school because we want our children to learn in a healthy and clean environment,” said Maseko.
He said the primary school belongs to the community, as most of the volunteers and patrollers went to the school.
Maseko said as a registered non-profit organisation they take care of the community, do voluntary work at funerals, patrol the community in the morning and afternoon, and walk with people in the dark to go to clinics and work.
The clean-up campaign started on Friday and ended on Sunday, whereby patrollers and community members came with their own garden tools to clean outside the school.
The patrollers said this was not a once-off thing and would not end at FF Ribeiro Primary School.
“We are still going to go around the community of A4 and clean identified sites where people dump the dirt.
“Our aim is to keep the community of A4 safe and clean at all times. Littering everywhere will put the lives of the community and school children at high risk of getting diseases from [an] unhealthy environment,” he added.
“We desperately need support from the community to help prevent the illegal dumpsites.”
He added that illegal dumping is a huge problem and creates an unhealthy environment for residents.
Residents were urged to take pride in their community and help clean up the neighbourhood.
“We want to live in a healthy environment but the municipal strike does not allow people to dump waste just anywhere in Mamelodi,” he said.
He advised the community that illegal dumping is against the law and that offenders would be penalised.
Maseko further pleaded with local businessmen and the community at large for much-needed donations such as torches, raincoats, uniforms, boots, and jackets for winter.
Anyone who wishes to help with donations can contact him on 082 581 0700.
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