PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS – Bitou's youth seem to be set on making a positive change in their community as youngsters banded together to clean a local cemetery which had become neglected.

Bitou Mayor Dave Swart said that on 13 March he received an email from Henrique Strydom, a Grade 11 learner from Wittedrift High School, expressing his concerns about the "poor condition" of the Park Lane cemetery. "This is a cemetery where generations of Plett residents have been laid to rest," Swart said.

He said Strydom's e-mail was not just a complaint, but that he wanted to pursue it as a clean-up project as part of the 20 hours of community service that he has to do for the Mr and Miss Wittedrift High School pageant competition.

"In essence, he saw himself as part of the solution and offered an idea that we could take forward using the Bitou motto 'To be the best together'," Swart said. "Following the email, the date for the clean-up was chosen - Human Rights Day on 21 March.

"This day was chosen because it was a public holiday when schools are closed. This date was also set as the date of the inauguration of the inaugural Bitou Junior Town Council."

Swart described it as an ideal community activity for the newly elected young councillors to use as their first community project. After the election of office bearers and plans for the remainder of the year were made, the junior councillors, along with officials, Swart and Speaker Claude Terblanche proceeded to the cemetery for a two-hour clean-up.

"This was indeed a good initiative to celebrate Human Rights Day, and we managed to prove that government and the people can work to be the best together."

The project was followed by a further clean-up by the Bitou Municipal Parks Department on Wednesday 22 March.

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