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The UN's Global Goals include action for the environment, like protecting life on land and life below water, as well as creating cities and communities that are sustainable. And to achieve that, every one of us has to get involved in creating a better future for our world. Join us by taking action here.

A Re Sebetseng — meaning “let’s work” — has been trending on Saturday morning in South Africa, as hundreds of members of the public turned up to help clean up their streets. 

The City of Johannesburg, in partnership with Global Citizen, called on citizens to help tidy up their environment by picking up litter, painting road markings, and planting trees — and they definitely answered. 

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By 10 a.m., the City of Joburg tweeted that 8,000 bags of litter had already been collected, with hours of the cleanup still left to go.

Residents were also joined by Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba and by TV personality and Global Citizen advocate K Naomi for the cleanup, which is all about promoting a culture of reducing, re-using, and recycling to ensure a cleaner city for all. 

“The next few hours is not about winning tickets, it’s not about cleaning the city, it’s actually about what we can do for our city, and our neighbourhood,” Mashaba told residents ahead of the cleanup. 

“Let’s really go out there, and actually demonstrate to the world, because this is a global initiative… for the 7 billion people of the world to take care of their environment,” he continued. “Because when our environment is clean we feel good about ourselves … So let us go out there and do our best.” 

Everyone who participated in the day was also entered into a draw, giving them the chance to earn tickets to Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100, presented and hosted by the Motsepe Foundation, and coming to Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium on 2 December. 

Here our some of our favourite tweets from the cleanup that capture the energy, the enthusiasm, and the amazing work being done by people all over the city! 

The Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 is presented and hosted by The Motsepe Foundation, with major partners House of Mandela, Johnson & Johnson, Cisco, Nedbank, Vodacom, Coca Cola Africa, Big Concerts, BMGF Goalkeepers, Eldridge Industries, and associate partners HP and Microsoft.

TopicsSowetoJohannesburgSouth AfricaLittercleanupCity of JohannesburgHerman MashabaClean UpA Re SebetsengAlexandra

Impact

Defend the Planet

18 of the Absolute Best Tweets From #AReSebetseng Cleanup in Johannesburg

By Imogen Calderwood