By: ANG Reporter
Acting Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg Kenny Kunene hit the ground running on Sunday, joining Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi to the launch of the “Green Army” programme in Soweto.
Kunene, who is the City’s member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for Roads and Transport, was earlier on Sunday announced to act on behalf of Executive Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda, who is in Cape Town on government business for two days.
On Sunday, Kunene joined Lesufi and provincial MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development Mbali Hlophe in Dobsonville Soweto for the launch of the Gauteng Waste Management & food security EPWP (Green Army) that will create 6000 job opportunities for Gauteng youth.
The newly appointed recruits will conduct clean ups, collect waste from households, recyclable and non-recyclable, support waste pickers, and recycling buy-back centres. They will also assist needy families to establish their own vegetable gardens with materials sponsored by the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Addressing the newly appointed recruits dressed in green overalls who filled the Dobsonville Stadium, Kunene said the programme was a welcome initiative that would go a long way in keeping “Our city and other cities in Gauteng clean”. Kunene added that the programme will also bring about food security as it will assist many needy families to eat from their own vegetable gardens, seeds and gardening equipment of which will be sponsored by Gauteng government.
“This is an inter-governmental programme in which our city will also contribute as Pikitup, our City’s integrated waste management service provider, will have to come on board by collecting waste collected by the Green Army and drop it at various dumping sites,” said Kunene.
Lesufi was cheered by the new recruits when he announced that their contracts will be extended by another six months upon expiry. He received even more loud cheers when he further announced that another 6 000 unemployed youth in Gauteng will be recruited to fix potholes in the province’s townships.
“My government has decided to trim the budget of food parcels and use that money to create employment so that people can sustain themselves through jobs,” he said.
