Hundreds of residents from Ward 75, Alexandra braved the rainy and cold weather to participate in the #Kleena Joburg campaign. The cleanup took place on Saturday, 25 January in Alexandra and is aimed at transforming the city into a clean and safe environment for residents.

The Executive Mayor was accompanied by Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Environment and Infrastructure Services Cllr Mpho Moerane, City Power CEO, Mr Lerato Setshedi, MD Pikitup Ms Bukelwa Njingolo and other senior managers in the city.

Fully armed with gloves, rakes, spades, refuse bags, litter pickers and brooms, the Mayor and MMC joined city employees and residents and worked hard to sweep the streets, remove rubble, collect refuse, clear illegal dumping sites, fixed street lights, cleared blocked KPIs and drains and more.

“The campaign is about building responsible communities and educating citizens not to litter”, says Mayor Makhubo. He encourage residents to assume responsibility and clean the areas where they reside.

MMC Cllr Mpho Moerane said “the campaign is to educate the residents to keep their spaces clean and it is responsibility of the residents to keep their area clean” Our responsibility as the city is to pick up their rubbish. What is important is for the communities to change the culture to live in a cleaner environment, he concluded.

Stakeholders from the JMPD,EMS, Citizens Relationship and Urban Management (CRUM), Social Development, Joburg  Water (JW), Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), Development Planning, Environmental Health and Economic Development make up the multidisciplinary team charged with ensuring that the City of Johannesburg is clean. 

The city was joined by some external partners including the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA). WESSA is an environmental organisation which supports high impact environmental and conservation projects to promote participation and caring for the earth.

The ‘KleenaJoburg’ campaign one of the key mayoral projects which aims to transform Joburg into a clean and safe environment for families and residents to enjoy. The operation also aims ensure by-laws are enforced.

Ward Councillor, Sannie Mabona said “the city is appealing to residents to come out in numbers and join us in cleaning their environment. We are happy that the MMC and Mayor is here supporting us, going forward as councilors we plan to take this initiative forward and also educate the community during our ward meetings.

Fana Masemola, a resident in Ward 75 said “Community members have formed a team which goes out every Sunday morning and clean different streets. We believe dealing with waste differently will avoid the blocking of drains in our area”, he concluded.

The cleanup of the Alexandra leg focused on the Vincent Shabalala (Old London road), 1st Avenue, Alfred Nzo, 15 Taxi rank, and 14th avenue where the MMC assisted with the fixing of street lights and the Mayor engage with some community leaders.