Byline: Nonjabuliso Nhlambo
14 October 2026
The Kinross Community Forum is appealing to local businesses, organisations and community members to support its cleaning and gardening initiative aimed at keeping Kinross clean, green and beautiful.
According to Oom Boet, the initiative was first launched in 2017 but was forced to suspend operations due to a lack of funding.
The project was revived in October 2025 after the forum secured sponsorship from Elvis Butchery, Real Time Management, Kisme and Shell Garage.
The forum hopes to expand its cleaning and gardening activities across the entire town, improving public spaces, encouraging community involvement and helping to address unemployment.
“We want to make the whole town clean and beautiful, but we need other businesses to sponsor us as the forum. Through this initiative, we are trying to curb unemployment,” said Oom Boet.
The forum is appealing to potential sponsors to donate essential working materials, including black and white pavement-marking paint, personal protective equipment (PPE), flowers and other gardening supplies.
“I joined the forum after seeing the members cleaning the town. I then joined to keep myself busy and not stay in the township doing nothing. We are doing this voluntarily, and we plead with community members who live in this town to come and help us in any way they can to keep our town clean. We are pleading with sponsors to come to the party so that we can put food on the table,” said Wandile Mkhize who is a member of the forum.
Despite their commitment, the volunteers face several challenges, including the theft of flowers planted in public spaces. Members say it is discouraging to spend time and effort planting and maintaining flowers, only for them to be stolen when they begin to bloom.
“Please stop stealing the flowers because we work hard planting and maintaining them, and now that people see them blooming, they steal them,” Mkhize added.
The forum is urging residents to protect the flowers and other improvements made to public spaces, stressing that maintaining a clean and attractive town requires the cooperation and commitment of the entire community.
The initiative presents an opportunity for businesses and individuals to invest in the appearance of Kinross while supporting a community-driven effort to create a cleaner environment and address unemployment.
Businesses, organisations and individuals willing to donate materials or otherwise support the initiative are encouraged to contact Oom Boet on 074 605 1712 or Siyabonga Thole on 081 234 6555.
