Govan Mbeki Municipality cleans eMbalenhle graveyard
The cleaning of the cemetery means a lot to the community.
Govan Mbeki Municipality began a cleaning campaign at Ext 14 and also cleaned all illegal dumping areas in eMbalenhle on Monday, August 1.
The municipal team, including the Community Work Programme (CWP), removed all the litter such as water and beer bottles that are dumped by mourners during funerals.
The Ijima Lokuhlwengisa campaign was launched by the municipality’s executive mayor, Nhlakanipho Zuma, two years ago to fight illegal dumping and to keep grave sites clean.
“The cleaning of the cemetery means a lot to the community because their loved ones are buried there.
“Similar maintenance operations will be carried out in other cemeteries and we call on all residents, especially those living close to the cemetery, to stop dumping garbage in these areas.
“Residents have a responsibility to stop using the cemetery as an illegal dumping site,” said Zuma.
The municipality removed heaps of waste next to the Ext 14 graveyard.
Youth who volunteered to clean their area at Ward 10, eMbalenhle received R10 000 from Zuma during the cleaning campaign last year.
These young people took the initiative to clean their ward because they are unemployed and are trying to keep themselves busy to avoid being involved in criminal activities and drugs.
Zuma said he was also organising training for these young people with government agencies such as the National Youth Development Agency to capacitate them with skills in waste management and were provided with waste removal plastic bags to make their work easy.
All empty spaces around townships turned into waste dumping sites.
Some residents were pointing fingers at politicians, specifically about the buy-back centre that was built some years ago at eMbalenhle to reduce waste and to create jobs, including business opportunities for the locals.
The said buy-back recycling centre at Ext 26 is fully equipped with required recycling machines that process recyclable waste and there is a waste transfer station also to be built at eMbalenhle, according to Zuma.
