A group of women calling themselves Real Basadi, from Langa, joined hands with other residents and councillor Samkelo John, on Saturday April 8, to clean a canal which runs through the area.
More than 100 people, including young people, got down to business in an attempt to give back to the community.
They rolled up their collective sleeves to also clean-up their streets and to create awareness about the environment.
Established in 2014 with the aim of strengthening relationships between children and their parents, Real Basadi are trying to make a difference by getting their hands dirty.
Chairperson and founder of the organisation, Phakama Yako, said they wanted to improve the outlook of Winnie Mandela Phase 3A, which was not visited by tourists.
As women, she said they wanted to spruce up the area through their volunteer clean-up programme.
Ms Yako said they roped in young people to make them responsible citizens. She hailed the municipality for supporting the initiative.
“We also aim to tackle the whole Langa township where illegal dumping is rife. We want to keep the whole of Langa clean,” she said.
“But for now our focus is Winnie Mandela and the surrounds. We are happy that there are government departments who are recognising what we are doing.
We are soon going to start to clean the whole of Langa.
“We do these clean-ups thrice a year.”
Mr John called on people to be part of similar campaigns in their areas.
He urged people to also keep their areas clean to prevent diseases.
He appealed to men to come out and support the campaign. “We need more people to come and clean up the area. But we have noticed that men do not like to volunteer and clean.
“We asked them to help and be part of these campaigns. We want people to take up ownership and responsibility for their own community and clean up.
“People will also be able to guard their areas against illegal dumping. The aim is to raise awareness,” he said.
Two young volunteers Sive Mtibe and Mbalentle Mthikrakra said they were happy to be part of the event.
The two said they felt great about making a difference in their community.
The next step for the group is to get men involved to boost the number of people helping with the project.
