The City of Tshwane’s Adopt-a-Spot Programme has been praised for its contribution towards eradicating illegal dumping after it was shortlisted for the 2024 National Batho Pele and Innovation Awards.
Launched in 2021, the programme is aimed to mobilise individuals and businesses to adopt open spaces for the purpose of maintaining and beautifying them.
The initiative was also meant to address the long-standing issue of illegal dumping, which has been a thorn in the city’s side despite its imposing of heavy fines on transgressors.
Clearing tons of waste from illegal dumping sites costs the municipality millions of rand annually.
MMC for Environment and Agriculture Management, Obakeng Ramabodu, who attended the awards ceremony in Ekurhuleni last week, praised the programme’s potential to eradicate illegal dumping after it was shortlisted for the awards.
The Adopt-a-Spot Policy, approved by the Tshwane Council on January 28, 2021, encourages public participation in environmental care, including removing illegal dumping, cutting grass, and removing alien vegetation.
Ramabodu, who attended the awards ceremony, said: “These awards recognise innovative projects and programmes that seek to improve service delivery in local government.”
The policy, he said, encourages the public to take care of the environment by removing illegal dumping, cutting grass and removing alien vegetation.
The public can also perform overall management and maintenance activities related to parks and other public open spaces.
Ramabodu said: “This programme is not applicable to alienation, donation, leasing, or any other activity that may alter the functionality of public open spaces. The adopted space shall be freely accessible to all members of the public. These spaces may also not be used for agricultural and business activities.”
Those interested in adopting a piece of land can do so within a specific timeframe not exceeding two years and 11 months at no cost to the municipality.
Application forms for the programme are available from regional offices and can also be downloaded from the city’s website. More information on the programme is available at adoptaspot@tshwane.gov.za or 012 358 8814/ 8869/8328.
Pretoria News
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