The Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEDEAT) and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) jointly sponsor the Greenest Municipality Competition (GMC), an annual competition that focuses on municipal involvement and contribution to climate change, greening and cleaning initiatives, water and waste management, and other environmental management principles.
The Sundays River Valley Municipality is the Greenest Municipality in the Sarah Baartman District municipality. This announcement was made recently by the Executive Mayor Cllr. Deon de Vos.
Instead of just qualifying a local municipality for the provincial competition, the Sarah Baartman District Municipality opted to use the GMC as a platform to foster healthy competition within the district by developing a district prize.
SRVM received R50 000 in prize money which will be spent on environmental conservation initiatives.
The Mayor of Sundays River Valley Municipality Cllr. Solethu Lucas said he is delighted about the results because this is proof of the joint efforts by the municipality, its stakeholders, and the community at large.
“I am happy that we will get to represent the district at the provincial competition, and I want to take this opportunity to thank all the role players who made this possible, keeping our municipality clean and green is everyone’s business,” he said.
The municipality won 2nd place in the category of local municipalities at the National Arbor City Awards Competition 2022.
The greenest municipality in the Eastern Cape will be announced at a Gala event which will be held in November 2023.