Residents association and Hands of Maraisburg join forces to clean up area
Volunteers focused on removing accumulated waste while highlighting the importance of ongoing community involvement in keeping shared spaces attractive.
The Florida South Residents Association (FSRA) and Hands of Maraisburg (HoM) partnered for another clean-up operation on August 28.
The two community organisations targeted the area next to the CMR Golf Course, stretching from the Astron service station on Albertina Sisulu Road to Spencer Road.
“This is a follow-up on our last operation,” says FSRA chairperson Rodney Churchyard.
“We made significant progress last time, and we would like to keep the momentum going.
“Unfortunately, we were not able to make as much progress as we would have liked to, since support which was promised from the City of Johannesburg failed to materialise.”
Churchyard added that the event was planned for a weekday specifically because the city’s Citizen Relationship and Urban Management (Crum) department, which only operates during the week, had promised a team to assist in the operation.
“Unfortunately, despite having repeatedly confirmed that a team from the entity would be in attendance, no one showed up, and we were unable to get hold of anyone from the department on the day.
“This greatly impaired our efforts, resulting in much less progress being made than we had hoped for.”
HoM committee member Travis Jacobs adds, “All the volunteers who worked here today took time off their weekday schedules specifically because we were promised support from Crum.
“We usually hold clean-up operations over weekends since it is more convenient for community members to take part.
“It really is a pity that the promised support was not forthcoming at the end of the day.”
Nevertheless, significant progress was made along the stretch of Albertina Sisulu Road, where the sidewalk was completely overgrown, and the curbs were buried under years of built-up sand and grass.
“The team from the KCCC Foundation was instrumental in getting the work done,” says Churchyard.
According to the deputy director for Crum’s integrated service delivery unit in Region B, Xolani Maquba, the clean-up operation was planned under an acting deputy director of Crum’s Augmented Field Services Unit.
“Between the planning of the operation and its implementation, a new deputy director was appointed, who was unaware of the planned action,” says Maquba.
“The unit has since been in contact with the community organisations and a new cleanup is being finalised.”
