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Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Infrastructure development, Jacob Mamabolo has called on communities across the Gauteng City Region to take a stand against the vandalism and destruction of community property and to defend these assets.

Speaking during the tabling of the 2016/17 Budget Vote, MEC Mamabolo condemned the destruction of property stating that such acts were be carried out by “fanatics of vandalism and heroes of destruction”.

Gauteng has already lost millions of Rands through the destruction of public property and the Department will be sending out Engineers in areas such as Bekkersdal, in the West Rand and Zithobeni, in Tshwane to do an assessment in order to quantify the extent of the damage.

MEC Mamabolo said: “Let me announce, that in the true spirit of your activism embedded in Ntirhishano Outreach Programme, we will be launching a campaign promoting caring of people’s property, to be known as I Care, We Care campaign.”

The campaign seeks to raise awareness while changing behaviour by calling on communities to preserve the people’s property.

“We know apartheid denied them ownership of assets, we know public property is still treated as an elitist thing from which they are alienated from. We condemn these acts, and we call on communities to care for people’s property,” Mamabolo said.

The Infrastructure Development Department will, in the coming weeks, reveal details of the campaign which will be rolled out in line with Premier David Makhura’s Ntirhisano Outreach Programme.

A new policy perspective tabled before the legislature seeks to position community infrastructure as a source of pride and wealth through the development of precincts which will create business opportunities around key infrastructure developments in the province in partnerships with the private sector.

Issued by the Department of Infrastructure Development