The Cape Town metropolitan municipality and the Overstrand local municipality, both in the Western Cape, have each received a R1-million prize for being the cleanest towns in South Africa, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said on Thursday.
Spokesperson Phindile Makwakwa said Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Valli Moosa handed over the prizes to the winners of the cleanest town competition in Cape Town on Thursday.
Moosa initiated the annual competition, now in its second year, in an effort to encourage South Africans to take a keen interest in their environment and begin to play an active role to safeguard it.
The winning municipalities won in the metropolitan council category and local council category, respectively.
Ekhuruleni municipality was first runner-up and Nelson Mandela metro the second runner-up in the metropolitan council category. The first runner-up in the local council category was Khara Hais (Upington) and the second runner-up was Lukhanjo (Queenstown).
”Your commitment to a clean environment has paid dividends. Not only is the R1-million prize money going to boost your clean-up campaigns, but you also stand to gain benefits from increased tourist interest,” Moosa said.
He said the criteria used to choose South Africa’s cleanest town included general cleanliness of the municipality, including public markets, waste disposal sites, stations and bus and taxi ranks, special social services facilities such as hospitals and shopping malls, as well as recreational facilities.
The panel also looked at open green space availability, community mobilisation and public participation in environmental quality and protection.
Moosa said the government has set a target of reducing waste generation and disposal by 50% and 25% respectively by 2012 and is developing a plan for zero waste by 2022. — Sapa