The Pathway Rehab Project was started by concerned citizens who wanted to make a change in their neighbourhood, so they cleaned a park to prevent muggings.
Sam Groves started the Pathway Rehab Project as a way to get others involved in the community. He invited volunteers to join in and clean up the parks and pathways in the neighbourhood. The old pathway is off Burger Street which connects the CBD to the Duzi River and surrounding park.
Their recent project was to clear it of litter as well as pruning the overgrowth that is regularly used by people with an intention to mug others. Muggings can be a scary thing but can be prevented by creating more visibility. The vegetation that was classed as ‘alien’ was removed entirely.
The trees lining this pathway are overrun with alien vines making it dark – an ideal place for commuters to be mugged. It has also been used as a local dumping ground. The aim of this project is to clear the alien vegetation and the litter from this pathway, making it a safe and beautiful connection between the CBD and Nature.
Sam managed to get the local DUCT team to assist with the cleanup and they provided black bags and a truck to remove the rubbish at the end of the day.
The area the volunteers worked on had been turned into an illegal dumping ground. The end goal was to get it back to its natural state.
The event was a massive success and Sam shared some amazing news for the next event.
“Hundreds of bags of litter were removed and a whole stack of alien invasives were hacked out and stacked up (soon to be burnt). This was the first big step in restoring nature to this corner of the city. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who came out and grafted so hard.”
“The mayor just phoned me and thanked me for the work we did on Saturday. He also said he’d like to meet me on site and see what more can be done. Dear fellow volunteers, our hard work will not be in vain.” – Sam Groves
Well done to Sam and everyone else involved in the cleanup. It takes just one person to make a change and the rest will follow. The Mayor kept his word and met up with Sam and then the next day an entire team took over and cleared the rest of the pathway.
“Yesterday the mayor, Themba Njilo, met me on-site, along with the general parks manager, and some of his subordinates. They expressed sincere gratitude at the work accomplished by our work party. And today, there is a whole crew of EPWP workers hacking away at the alien invasives. They’ll be there all week continuing where we left off. I’m absolutely stunned by the positive respone this little project has generated.”
by 