A Community Action Group Rehabilitate Local Overgrown Parks and Town

Photo Credit: Power of 8000

When Power8000 was first launched, the community removed 10 truckloads of rubbish from their local park; today, all the parks have been rehabilitated.

White River, South Africa (07 May 2023) – Around 8000 ratepayers live in White River, Mpumalanga, and they are uniting to take back their town, clean the parks and make the area look beautiful again. This mission inspired the creation of Power 8000, a non-profit community-run group dedicated to beautifying and uplifting White River.

The Power of 8000 (TPO8000) grew organically from a group of concerned residents doing informal clean-ups to a fully registered NPO. The residents started small, focusing efforts on one community park called Ronnie Bester Park.

The park had become overgrown, a haven for dumping, drug use and prostitution. The then team rallied community resources to clean up the park and create a space where people can now walk their dogs, have picnics, host family get-togethers and practice soccer.

Initially, it took about ten truckloads to remove dumped rubble, alien vegetation and rubbish from the park. The team put in hundreds of hours of work. What started as a small team grew as more residents saw the progress being made and wanted to lend a helping hand. Today, the park is a beautiful green space for the community.

“Ronnie Bester Park was the first of many, and now all the parks in the town have been rehabilitated and are kept tidy in association with the municipal parks team.

TPO8000 has also placed and maintains rubbish bins all over the town, significantly reducing litter on the ground. Other projects include cleaning streets, verges and gutters, thereby improving pedestrian and road safety.”

What the team has seen and loved most, is that people are taking responsibility in their own streets. Keeping the curbs near their homes tidy and working together on bigger projects.

The project is run by Rhodes Abell, Pierre du Preez and Lisa Gordon-Davis. Chairman and founder Rhodes shared that more and more people are calling to compliment the work being done in the town.

Working purely on donations from residents and businesses, they teamed up with the White River Youth Forum, a group of unemployed youth living in town, to clean up the nature reserve and other neglected areas of town. The community volunteers time to the cause and now, the town is able to stay maintained.