The Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Development, Councillor Margaret Arnolds led a team of approximately 150 City Parks and Zoo staff, 68 workers from the Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) and a number of staff from the various municipal entities in Eldorado Park on Thursday, 6 February 2020, for a mega blitz clean-up.
The much-needed operation in Eldorado Park and surrounding Fountain Park and open spaces on Diamond Street, Silver Street, Concorde and the popular stadium in Ext 9, saw teams working tirelessly in their designated sections, tackling long grass on sidewalks, dense shrubs, tree pruning, litter picking, fixing potholes and removing unsightly illegal dumping in the area.
Over 1 278 and 1 470 primary and high school learners respectively, were engaged prior to the event as part of City Parks integrated plan to educate learners as well on the impacts of their actions in protecting public spaces. Specialists from JCPZ environmental and education department, visited each household around Fountain Park, providing information and education on the importance of open spaces and taking care and ownership of their parks and the environment.
In heeding the Executive Mayor’s campaign to accelerate service delivery in Joburg, the mega blitz operations seek address seasonal backlogs caused by the erratic weather patterns and the knock-on effect weather has on delivering timely services to our residents. City Parks and Zoo will continue its horticultural maintenance schedules operations across the city, to reclaim spaces prone to neglect.
“As the city’s entity responsible for over 2 173 public parks, cemeteries, street trees, open spaces, nature reserves and the Joburg Zoo, City Parks and Zoo is continuing these mega blitz operations across all 7 regions to deal with issues of long grass, park maintenance and general horticultural services, which have gone a long way in addressing the concerns of residents,” stated Councillor Margaret Arnolds, Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Development in the city of Johannesburg.
“Grime attracts crime,” MMC Arnolds added. “We need to work as a collective to return these spaces to our children to play safe, away from drug abuse and neglect”, she emphasised.
Service shortfalls, including overgrown parks, fallen trees and hanging branches, can be reported to trees@jhbcityparks.com or register enquiries on the Joburg Connect Call Centre on 011 375 5555.
