Pretoria - City Parks has dedicated 67 minutes to various communities across the city today to mark Nelson Mandela Day by cleaning and greening various spaces that are designated as parkland.
"This is our commitment to the 67 minutes campaign to build on the Madiba legacy, by creating a clean, healthy and vibrant space in the city that we can all enjoy," says the member of the mayoral committee for environment, Matshidiso Mfikoe.
She also urged people to give 67 minutes of service to their community by adopting an open space or water body.
The number 67 reflects the number of years of his life that Mandela dedicated to the struggle for equality in South Africa; he joined the ANC in 1942 and became the first democratically elected president in 1994.
Nelson Mandela Day was formally adopted by the UN in 2009 to inspire people around the world to embrace Mandela's values and make an imprint through service to their communities, reports Joburg.org.
It calls on people in South Africa and abroad to perform a selfless task to help their community for at least an hour and seven minutes.
In this spirit, City Parks has organised various activities around the city. Trees, shrubs, gloves and bin liners will be provided by the utility for participants to use, and the refuse will be removed after the various clean ups.
The 67 minutes campaign kicked off by planting the 92nd tree in Thokoza Park Soweto at 10am. It was in this park that Mandela planted the 90th tree in the Greening Soweto Legacy Project on his 90th birthday.
From there, officials and volunteers headed to Houghton to upgrade and beautify Central, First and 14th avenues. Children from a local creche have gathered to celebrate the legacy of Madiba by planting a tree and sharing a birthday cake.
At noon, City Parks distributed 670 trees for planting to residents in Alexandra, as part of the Alexandra Renewal Project.
In 2009, it spearheaded several campaigns by cleaning up parks, rivers and dams, planted trees and painted playground equipment in Orange Farm, Cosmo City, Diepsloot Park, Jukskei Park, Rotunda Park and Rosettenville.
