More than 3 900 lampposts, rubbish bins, and electricity boxes have been creatively painted along the roads as part of The Moot Project, an initiative started three years ago by the residents of this well-established Pretoria neighbourhood to clean up and beautify their “hood”.

This stretches from the suburbs of Riviera, Rietondale, Queenswood, Waverley, Môregloed, and Pierneef Ridge. Major parts of adjacent suburbs in these older parts of Pretoria, such as Gezina and the main arteries in Villieria and Rietfontein’s municipal infrastructure, are already painted.

The project to beautify the Moot came to life in July 2022 when Hennie Mostert and Johan Oberholster joined forces.

Oberholster, after recovering from a debilitating bout of Covid-19, relinquished his management position at the University of Pretoria and thus had more time on his hands to become involved in community work.

As a result, he arranged to repaint the play apparatus and anchor poles and gates in the neighbourhood play park, as well as the area around the park on Pierneef Street.

Mostert, having been involved with cleaning several areas in the Moot on his own over many years, saw this and approached Oberholster to ask whether they couldn’t work together; hence, The Moot Project came into being.

“It is a community initiative whereby we aim to uplift the Moot area and to make it a destination of choice for homeowners. We aim to do this by cleaning, repairing, and repainting the municipal infrastructure neglected by Tshwane over many years, and greening the area by planting waterwise indigenous plants where appropriate.

“We subscribe to the Broken Window Theory used with great success in New York to turn that city around. The main premise of this theory is that one should start with maintaining the small things in your immediate vicinity and get that shipshape,” Oberholster said.

Although it is now nearly three years later, the two, with the help of the residents, are still working hard to make this once run-down area a joy for all.

Oberholster explained that this year’s rainfall in Pretoria has slowed things down a bit. But to date, the project has been involved in painting five train bridges in true professional style, depicting the work of renowned artists such as Pierneef, Walter Battiss, Peter Clark, Irma Stern, and Esther Mahlangu.

They have also beautified the gateway to the Moot, at the crossing of Soutpansberg Road and Stead Avenue, with a dump rock, as well as the crossing at Frates Street and 15th Avenue. Their continuous work has also seen four children's parks in the Moot getting a facelift.

One of the group’s biggest accomplishments is the painting of the train bridge on 24th Avenue between Pierneef Street and Nico Smith Street. It started when 90 community members assisted with a clean-up session on a Saturday morning.

The design of the mural was by Elsie Welch, an artist who lives in the Moot.

“Elsie had the brilliant idea to pay tribute to the renowned SA painter, JH Pierneef (1886 to 1957), who resided at the corner of 30th Avenue and Pierneef Street around 100m from the now Pierneef bridge,” Oberholster said.

In doing so, she incorporated the significance of a historical resident of the Moot in the beautification of the area. The artwork comprises clouds and acacia trees and is inspired by the work of Pierneef. The colour in the artwork is provided by a stylised South African flag incorporated into the design on one side.

Plans in the pipeline are to beautify, among others, lampposts and rubbish bins in the future by painting them in the City of Tshwane colours.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za

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From neglect to neighbourhood pride: The Moot Project's artistic revolution in Pretoria