Joburg residents, city officials and private sector unite for Joburg's urban forest

By Zanele Mji

With the G20 Summit just days away, the City of Johannesburg, local residents and the private sector have joined forces for a major greening effort. On Tuesday, the morning rain could not deter dozens of volunteers from Fourways’ civic organisations and officials from gathering on Winnie Mandela Drive to plant 3,000 trees in a single hour.

The initiative is in support of the Ten Million Trees Programme, a directive from the Presidency to the Department of Forests and Fisheries to implement the planting of at least two million trees per year for a period of five years. 2025 is the fourth year of the programme.

"Johannesburg is Africa’s biggest urban forest and we want to keep expanding the green canopy by replacing trees lost to age, disease and development," Managing Director of Johannesburg City Parks and Zoos, Thanduxolo Mendrew told Our City News (OCN).

Along a 14km stretch of Winnie Mandela Drive from Uranium Street to Summit Road, volunteers worked together planting two rows of indigenous Celtis Africana trees that will provide shade to pedestrians and offsetcarbon emissions on the traffic-choked arterial.

The initiative is the product of close cooperation between the City, local businesses and civic organisations like the Fourways Garden Shopping Center, the Fourways Improvement District and Better Fourways.

"G20 is here and we wanted to bring our energy to the city," COO of JCPZ David Maluleke told the crowd.

"People are asking whether we will sustain these efforts [even after the G20]. G20 has taught us that together as South African citizens we can do more. It is a benchmark."

Fourways resident and volunteer, Leighanne Charlton, told OCN that she was planting trees in celebration of her 40th birthday.

“This is such a cool initiative to green the city and improve our air quality,” said Charlton.

JCPZ is planning another drive to plant 3,000 trees in Soweto on the 18th of November

"We want to increase the green canopy, to deal with the issue of climate change and to energise our communities," said Maluleke.

This story is produced by Our City News, a non-profit newsroom that serves the people of Johannesburg.