By Nangamso Mabindla
17 September 2007

CLAD in Buffalo City's orange overalls, municipal officials went to work sprucing up King William's Town as part of their annual clean-up campaign on Friday, 14 September.

The town came to a standstill during the clean-up, with hawkers joining in to ensure that the campaign was a success. Also joining the campaign was the City's community services director Wendy Maqekeza-Galada, officials from the provincial departments of water affairs, economic development and environmental affairs.

In its campaign this year, the City targeted schools and hawkers.

Starting on Monday, 10 September officials visited schools throughout Buffalo City building awareness about the importance of living in a clean town. The week-long campaign ended on Saturday, 15 September with the cleaning up of the East London beachfront.

Speaking during the campaign in King William's Town, Maqhekeza-Galada said that the campaign was important to raise awareness about the need to keep the city clean.

"This year we wanted to raise awareness targeting hawkers, teaching them about the dangers of working in an unhygienic environment. Today we have asked hawkers from King William's Town to work with us as we go around cleaning the town."

Talking about the turn out, Maqhekeza-Galada said she was happy that the hawkers had come in their numbers to support the City's initiative.

"I am really happy to see them taking responsibility and making sure that their environment is healthy. I want to thank them for coming out in their numbers to support us."

The director said that this year's clean-up campaign was a success.