The entire Sandton community will be cleaning up the city once a month, every month. Here’s all the details you need to know to get involved.
The city’s new monthly volunteer clean-up day is all about communities working together to make things better. Responding to requests from the Sandton Central community, which is home to many businesses, the a special Sandton Central monthly Clean-UP will now take place on the second-last Friday of the month.
Elaine Jack, City Improvement District (CID) Manager of Sandton Central Management District (SCMD), explains: “Many Sandton companies are keen to do their bit and participate in the City of Johannesburg’s A Re Sebetseng Saturday clean-up campaign. However, most are closed on weekends thus excluding them from doing so.”
SCMD raised this with the city, which has welcomed the idea of Sandton’s businesses volunteering on a day when they can have the most positive impacts.
“As Sandton Central is a predominantly a business node, we are calling all businesses to participate in the Sandton Clean-UP on the second-last Friday of each month, starting from 16 February,” says Jack.
“We are really excited to see the fun, innovative and meaningful ways, big and small, that organisations come up with to volunteer, and to make it a regular initiative within their businesses to encourage staff to join in,” says Jack. “It’s not difficult or complicated. It can be as simple as taking one-hour of your lunchtime, or giving your 67 minutes per month. And, we’re here to help anyone who wants to get involved.
“Of course, should Sandton Central residents wish to join volunteers across Johannesburg on the second-last Saturday of the month, they are welcome to do so and will be given the necessary resources and support,” adds Jack.
The monthly volunteer campaign initiated by Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Councillor Herman Mashaba, is largely focused on cleaning the city, but also welcomes any kind of volunteerism that improves the City.
“Sandton Central is the commercial capital of South Africa and home to many businesses that take their corporate social responsibility and environmental commitment seriously. This is a great opportunity for them to put their values into action in the very community in which they work,” points out Jack.
In fact, Sandton Central itself is an excellent example of what can be achieved when businesses work together for a common goal. SCMD manages the public urban spaces of South Africa’s cosmopolitan financial hub and is home to three business improvement districts funded by commercial property owners.
“Our business community works hand-in-hand so that people can enjoy a positive experience of the district. They ensure that Sandton Central is safe, clean and well-managed environment,” notes Jack
Sandton Central has a team of 56 public safety ambassadors, five patrol cars and 27 cleaning staff. This team is focused solely on crime prevention, cleaning, maintenance and landscaping – 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
For the year’s first A Re Sebetseng day on 20 January, the Sandton Central Men in Red did their bit for the mayoral drive to clean up the city by removing 16 bags of litter, weighing some 104kgs, off the streets of Sandton as part of the volunteerism campaign.
This month, with Sandton Central’s business community expected to take up the call to volunteer, with even bigger impacts.
The City of Johannesburg’s next A Re Sebetseng monthly Sandton Clean-UP day is on Friday 16 February, and everyone – residents, businesses, charities and other organisations – can get involved.
Simply visit sandtoncentral.com, click on the link for ‘council information’ and scroll down to the ‘downloads’ section where you will find the A Re Sebetseng registration and commitment forms. Complete the forms and return them to Elaine Jack at Elaine.Jack@cwexcellerate.com.
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