Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

24 October 2024

4-minute read

With over 659 potholes filled and at least 2 dozen people employed, the non-profit organization Better Bedfordview is setting an example for what can be achieved when people work together for the greater good of the community.

Noticing the degradation of her suburb and the lack of maintenance and care in public spaces, Marina Constas, attorney and former chairperson of the Resident’s Action Group (RAG) in Bedfordview, along with other members of the group, decided to start an arm of the company initiating a clean-up operation of their suburb called Better Bedfordview. Two years ago this arm separated from RAG and is now a stand-alone non-profit organization run by committed volunteers from the community who want to aesthetically beautify and improve their suburb in order maintain their asset value.

Their projects have had a huge impact on residents who are very supportive of the initiative, and they manage to collect around R220 000 per month from residents and businesses. The money goes towards projects like cleaning up the roads, painting the curbs, and sorting out the parks, to name but a few. It also creates employment as they now have 24 previously unemployed people from the Yes for Youth program working for them. The initiative has led to three other suburbs taking on the “better neighbourhood” branding.

With regard to the potholes, Marina says that “extreme situations call for extreme measures”. The organization secured their own material to fix the potholes in their area, regularly sending out teams to assess the location and seriousness of potholes, while another service provider is employed to fix them. Better Bedfordview pays for the potholes on the main roads to be repaired, while residents pay towards the potholes on smaller side streets. Six months into the project, they were approached by council, who checked the quality of the materials they were using and confirmed them to be very good, leaving the organization to complete the project they had undertaken.

In addition, they are starting on a town-hall project where they plan to upgrade their town-hall by paving and planting the exterior and getting schools to install artwork. “We get everybody involved,” says Marina, working together to bring about a “united community”.

Better Bedfordview also has a gardening and landscaping committee who see to the upgrading of the environment by planting and caring for it in sustainable ways like using salt instead of weed-killer. “Adopt-a-pavement” is another of their initiatives that encourages their partners to look at the area around them and to take on the pavement closest to them, maintaining it so that it does not become dilapidated. This doubles as a marketing strategy for bigger companies because “people need to know what you’re doing”.

Local government has no money, no wherewithal and poor management, and while Marina says that they have “close to zero confidence in local government” and can’t rely on them, they do try to work side-by-side with them. “We don’t have the luxury of waiting for council, because by the time we wait for council, we’re going to be in a slum”, concluded Marina, so “it’s up to us” to make a difference.

Listen to the full interview with Ml Habib Bobat on Sabahul Muslim.