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​With the hot, wet weather, there has been an explosion of growth in Joburg, prompting City Parks to tackle overgrown grass and foliage.
UNSIGHTLY, overgrown grass and shrubs that were taking over verges and open spaces in some suburbs in Fourways were slashed on Tuesday, 14 February by City Parks workers in attempt to speed up service delivery, under its Blitz Tuesday campaign.

Trees are trimmedTrees are trimmedKayakazi Bodlani, the Region E parks manager, said the exercise would enable the city to tackle the seasonal maintenance backlog quickly.

Armed with brush-cutters, chainsaws and mowers, City Parks staff from all three Region E depots worked together to cut grass and prune trees in Douglasdale and Jukskei.

Blitz Tuesday, during which workers will meet every Tuesday in affected areas of Region E to cut back overgrowth, will take eight weeks. “The city has been experiencing heavy rains in the past months, a situation that has resulted in overgrown grass,” said Bodlani.

The rapid growth of grass and shrubs is largely due to the warm and wet weather, which accelerates their rate of growth. “This initiative has motivated the workers to work even harder and get the job done quickly.”

The first Blitz Tuesday exercise was held at Sandringham on Tuesday, 7 February. The workers managed to cut 22 hectares of land. “It was this exercise that made us realise that we were on the right track in working together as a team,” said Bodlani.

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