Thulamela Municipality will represent the Vhembe District at the provincial greening competition that will be held in Polokwane on October 26.

This comes after the municipality outclassed the other local municipalities in the district during the competition. Thulamela was announced the greenest municipality in the district at an award-giving ceremony that was held at the Makhado Municipal Council Chambers last Wednesday.

Thulamela received a trophy and a cash prize of R25 000 for its achievement. The Makhado Municipality received R15 000 for being the most improved municipality during the competition, while Musina Municipality was awarded a trophy and a cash prize of R10 000 for finishing third.

The main objective behind the competition, according to Mr Peter Tsheola, the environmental education manager in the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism, is to encourage the municipalities to keep their environment clean. "We also wanted to encourage people to look after the environment and emphasize the importance of the environment and its natural resources," he said.

He appealed to the community members of Vhembe to protect and take care of indigenous forests by preventing veld and forest fires. The greenest municipality competition started as the cleanest town competition that was launched at the national waste management summit in Polokwane in 2001. It is in this competition that municipalities are assessed in terms of waste management, energy efficiency and conservation, water management, landscaping, tree planting and beautification.

The Greater Tzaneen and Baphalaborwa local municipalities have been winning this competition since its interception.

The ceremony was adressed by the acting mayor of the Vhembe District Municipality, Cllr Thivhulawi Makumbane, who stressed that every community member is encouraged to participate in the cleaning and greening events to improve the health and beauty of the environment. "People must also stop cutting trees, even if it is in a natural forest. Plants are an important resource in our natural ecosystem with many benefits," he said.

Makumbane added that trees played an important role in tourism. He said deforestation also had a devastating effect on water catchment. Makumbane, who is also the mayor of Thulamela Local Municipality, was over the moon after his municipality was announced as the greenest municipality in Vhembe.