NEWS In Vrede, people rediscovered each other –everyone says so, from the municipality to the farmers to the businessmen and community groups. “It was a beautiful journey,” says Gugulethu Mhlongo-Ntshangase, municipal manager of the Phumelela municipality, of the astonishing transformation brought about in Vrede within six weeks. It began with Carla van Rooyen, convener of the town’s renovation project, and her plans to clean up the landfill site.
The official landfill near one of the entrances to town was not managed properly, Van Rooyen explains. “Over time, the trash began to spill out from behind the hill.” READ: Man behind unknown chess association claims he was surprised by R4.
5 million from NLC Rubbish was scattered in the once beautiful field and polluted the river and dam. Along with this, the people of Vrede also wanted to refurbish a few street signs and stop streets. These were among the plans of Ntando4Vrede – the community group that was established last year.
Van Rooyen says: “A golden start” is how she describes the R500 000 that Lottoland Help ’n Dorp gave to Ntando4Vrede. With Leah’s return six weeks later, the town was a hive of activity. When the townspeople began to tally at the end of the Lottoland project, it turned out that between R2.
5 million and R3 million had been spent on renovations in those six weeks. “The funds from Lottoland started something; it created a snowball effect,” says Arno Joubert, technical adviser for the.
