Miss Earth Joburg Mayor Clean Up A Re Sebetseng

​The City of Johannesburg has officially launched its website for the A Re Sebetseng monthly volunteer cleaning campaign.

 

In 2015, the Executive Mayor, Cllr Herman Mashaba, visited Rwanda and was taken aback by how clean the country was. In particular, he was inspired by the cleanliness of the capital city, Kigali.

Upon investigation, he learned that this is not only a function of a dedicated clean-up crews, but the product of a nation-wide communal effort known as Umuganda. The word Umuganda translates as ‘coming together in common purpose to achieve an outcome’.

Based on his experience in Rwanda, the Executive Mayor decided to launch a similar initiative in Johannesburgaimed at cleaning up the city.As a result, A Re Sebetseng was officially launched on 14 August 2017.

A Re Sebetseng which loosely translates ‘Together, let make Johannesburg work towards a cleaner a city’ shares the values of Umuganda insofar as it aims to encourage communities to work together to build a cleaner city.A Re Sebetsengnow takes place every third Saturday of the month.

“The cities vision is to improve the environmental quality of the City of Johannesburg by working together with our communities and businesses to create a clean and safe places to work, live and play.”

Since the campaign’s inception, more than 35 000 residents have participated in over 1300 clean-up events.

The A re sebetseng monthly campaign has come a long way since it’s launch and now they have created a dedicated website to keep volunteers up-to-date and informed.

The platform will make it easy for residents of Johannesburg to access all the relevant information pertaining to the campaign, which includes the following, amongst others:

  • The aim of A Re Sebetseng as envisioned by Executive Mayor Herman Mashaba;
  • All the points where residents can collect gloves and bags before each clean-up;
  • Where residents can participate in their region each month;
  • All the relevant contact details; and
  • News articles about the campaign.

This platform has been made possible by the generous pledge of support to a cleaner Johannesburg by WAO Host, who developed the website and will be hosting the website free of charge for the next year, where after the City will take ownership of the domain.

The new website has replaced the site the City has been using to date (www.aresebetsengjhb.wordpress.com). The old “place-holder” site has officially been shut down.

WAO Host’s Director, Mr Evans Akorli, said his company responded to the call by the Mayor to the residential and business community of the City to support and participate in this noble cause: “Our main drive was to make it easy for all stakeholders to get involved wherever they are. We are therefore proud to be associated with this vital initiative to keep our City clean.”

A Re Sebetseng – Together, let’s make Johannesburg work. The purpose of this initiative is to raise awareness whilst educating and encouraging residents to manage waste effectively and to take care of their environment.


Sources: A Re Sebetseng
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Brent Lindeque is the founder and editor in charge at Good Things Guy.

Recognised as one of the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young South African’s as well as a Primedia LeadSA Hero, Brent is a change maker, thought leader, radio host, foodie, vlogger, writer and all round good guy.

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