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Inner-City Gazette
Issue 22 - 2019
Email : info@inner-city-gazette.co.za
@ICG_Sales
072 824 3014
6 - 13 June 2019
Website : www.inner-city-gazette.com Inner City Gazette
Distributed free to households, churches, schools, clinics, government departments, police stations, libraries and businesses in Bellevue • Berea • Bertrams • Braamfontein • City and Suburban • City West • Crown Gardens • Doornfontein • Fairview • Fordsburg • Hillbrow • Jeppestown • Jules • Johannesburg Inner City • Kensington • Lorentzville • Malvern • Marshallstown • New Doornfontein • Newtown • North Doornfontein • Park Meadows • Rosettenville • Selby • Troyeville • Turffontein • Village Main and Yeoville
Tree planting drive to commemorate Gandhi ‘Schools will also be involved in a joint project on July 14 for a massive bicycle ride in the area’
Community members at Gandhi Hall
Pic: @GandhiWalkLENZ
Johannesburg - Scores of trees have been planted around the city to mark the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth. The project was spearheaded by Indian Consul-General in the city, Dr K J Srinivasa, who planted the first of 10 trees at his office on Sunday in Parktown, where the Consulate is located. The diplomat then went to the township of Lenasia, to join the Gandhi Walk Committee in planting 20 trees on the site of the Gandhi Hall, which is one of the most popular venues in the area for cultural performances and community events. The Gandhi Hall was built in Lenasia after the apartheid government demolished the original Gandhi Hall, which was located in the Johannesburg city centre, where Mahatma Gandhi held many community meetings to mobilise the local communities into protesting against the
unjust apartheid laws of that time. The final stop was Tolstoy Farm, 10 kilometres outside Lenasia, the commune started by Gandhi during his tenure in Johannesburg at the turn of the last century; before he returned to India to lead the country to independence there. Dr Srinivasa said the project is part of the plans by the Government of India for each Indian mission across the globe to plant 200 trees in their cities to mark the 150th year of Gandhi’s birth. The local community joined him to plant 50 trees on the once thriving area. “We will also plant more trees at schools in Lenasia to bring the total to beyond 200 soon. Schools will also be involved in a joint project between the Consulate and the Gandhi Walk Committee on July 14 for a massive bicycle ride in the area,” Dr Srinivasa said. Plans are currently under way with the Indian High Commission and a local committee to turn the now largely bare site into a tourist attraction, Dr Srinivasa said.