Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs, Ms Barbara Thomson announces the fifth Greenest Municipality Competition Awards winners
The Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs, Ms Barbara Thomson, has today, Wednesday 06 July 2016, announced the winners of the fifth Greenest Municipality Competition (GMC), with the City of eThekwini (KZN) and Mossel Bay (Western Cape) Municipalities being crowned the greenest municipalities in South Africa after respectively winning the overall prizes in the Metro and Local categories.
In the Metro Category, the First Runner up is City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (Gauteng) and the Second Runner up is the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (Gauteng), while in the Local Category, Steve Tshwete Local Municipality (Mpumalanga) emerged as the first runner up and the Intsika Yethu Local Municipality (Eastern Cape) as the second runner up.
The Panel of Adjudicators have spent sufficient time at each participating municipality to ensure adequate coverage of all areas of the competition. These areas include Waste Management, Energy Efficiency and Conservation, Water Management, Landscaping, Tree Planting and Beautification, Public Participating and Community Empowerment, Leadership and Institutional Arrangements Presentation.
The overall winners will receive R3.5 million; first runner up R3 million and the second runner up R2.5 million each, which will be given through funding of infrastructure projects aimed at the protection of the environment. The prize is tied to implementation of Waste, Climate Change and Green Economy related job creation projects.
Funding the competition is of greater strategic importance as it helps galvanise municipalities to initiate projects that address their integrated development plans (IDPs) and forged links with our Extended Public Works Programme mandate of creating temporary employment and offering skills development opportunities.
Speaking at a ceremony held in Middleburg, Mpumalanga today, Deputy Minister Thomson reiterated the need for all municipalities to get involved for the betterment of the people’s lives by promoting environmental cleanliness in the areas.
She said that “municipalities are central to the success of any initiative that seeks to address the challenges of climate change. They have direct control over carbon emission because this is where the main GHG emitters (industry) are located. It is also where those most vulnerable to climate change effects reside (communities). It is critical therefore that our response to climate change effects must focus on opportunities in municipalities to avoid or mitigate negative impacts on the natural environment, communities and the infrastructure they depend on.”
The Greenest Municipality Competition has evolved into a significant contributor towards a collective response to the challenges posed by climate change and the government’s course towards a sustainable future. It focuses on sustainable development in areas such good waste management practices, efficient energy use, sustainable water use, public participation and best practice of municipal leadership.
The purpose of this year’s GMC is to showcase the projects funded through GMC prizes and also to afford other municipalities to engage and learn good practices from the winners and hopefully enter the next competition.
Deputy Minister Thomson also urged other municipalities which are still not participants of the GMC initiative to come on board it is part of the implementation of the country’s climate change response strategy. “It is therefore a very important initiative that demands the participation of every single municipality in the country,” she said.
Enquiries:
Albi Modise
Cell: 083 490 2871
