BuaNews (Tshwane)
Nthambeleni Gabara
9 April 2008
Bronkhorstpruit — Unemployed youth of Bronkhorstspruit and surrounding areas are to benefit from a government campaign which employs the youth in waste management and recycling.
The Bontle ke Botho Clean and Green (BkB) campaign was unveiled at the Bronkhorspruit Sport Centre on Tuesday.
MEC for Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Khabisi Mosunkutu, said during his address that the department had expanded the themes of the campaign to deepen the participation of unemployed youth in recycling as the best sustainable option to waste management.
According to the MEC, this will also serve as an opportunity to develop entrepreneurial skills among young people in the area.
Following on the success of last year's campaign, Mr Mosunkutu said the department had a big challenge in terms of maintaining and continuously improving the campaign.
"We've strengthened the litter and waste management theme with the Litter-Free Gauteng campaign which was launched in June 2007," he said.
The Youth Trolley Project, which is in the pipeline, is also expected to boost interest in the campaign and the project is supported by National Youth Service.
Lekola Makoko of the Provincial Department of Agriculture said since its inception, the campaign has grown into one of the largest sustainable environmental campaigns, contributing directly to all strategic interventions for sustainable development.
However, the premier attributed the success of BkB campaign to the unconditional participation of municipalities, wards, schools as well the unwavering support of the private sector.
"The changes reaffirm our commitment to environmental protection and improvement. They also reinforce our intention to intensify war on poverty alleviation and unemployment using the environmental platform," he said.
Participants in the campaign include schools, local municipalities and wards in the Gauteng Province.
Mr Makoko told BuaNews that a task team was formed in each municipality to assist in the implementation and coordination of the campaign.
Last year a total of 320 schools participated in the campaign in 2007.
Each school has an average of 800 learners meaning that in terms of environmental education, about 256 000 learners benefited from the campaign.
He said every school and ward that participated had projects and out of the 320 participated schools, 60 school projects won prizes.
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