By Nangamso Mabindla
17 March 2004

As part of a campaign to beautify the township of Mdantsane, the Buffalo City Municipality has donated gardening equipment to a local junior primary school.

The municipality's City Parks Department on Tuesday donated 18 poles, two bales of netting, a hosepipe, two spades and a wheelbarrow to the Chuma Junior Primary School in NU5, Mdantsane.

Chuma Junior Primary School has been chosen as the pilot school for the greening project and gardeners from the City Parks Department will run courses for the teachers and pupils on how to care for their gardens and establish a compost heap.

Simphiwe Mdingi from Buffalo City's environmental services handed over the gardening tools to an appreciative group of teachers and children. He urged the school to "make full use of the gardening equipment".

Later this year gardeners from the City Parks Department would show teachers and pupils how to build a shelter for compost. Mdingi said: "When we come back here we will teach you how to make compost and how to use this equipment."

The local community was urged to take part in the pilot project by collecting garden refuse and organic matter that could be used in establishing the compost heap.

The compost heap was expected to be fully functional by 2006. In addition to supplying rich compost for the school gardens, people in the community would also be able to buy compost from the school, according to Mdingi.

"If this becomes successful, we will have succeeded in beautifying Mdantsane," said Mdingi.

Accepting the gift from the municipality, the Chuma Junior Primary School teachers said such projects were educational. "We appreciate the municipality's involvement with our school. This project will teach our children a lot about caring for our environment and making use of our garden refuse," said Nompumelelo Ntlebi, a teacher at the school.

"Projects like these will teach our children about cleanliness," she added. "The children will grow up respecting school property and embrace environmental conservation."