Social ills tarnish city image, council told
The city has launched a campaign to deal with the social ills affecting Durban.
The eThekwini Municipality’s ‘Clean My City’ campaign, a project that was initiated by Mayor James Nxumalo, will be officially launched on Friday, 7 March, 2014.
The Municipality’s Head of Communications, Tozi Mthethwa, said Nxumalo had came up with the concept because he was genuinely concerned about the state of the City.
Mthethwa told councillors during a full council meeting at Madundube in Mbumbulu on Thursday, 27 February, that the key issues being addressed through this multi-disciplinary campaign included by-law infringements, derelict buildings, litter, pollution, homeless people and general maintenance.
“These social challenges combined are tarnishing the image of our city. The municipality cannot solve the problems we are confronted with alone; we need to work with other spheres of government, civic society groups, business and the community to make an everlasting impact,” she said.
Mthethwa said the campaign aimed to encourage eThekwini residents to, “love their City and look after it”.
Earlier this month, Exco members visited Albert Park, with the aim of coming up with a multi-disciplinary approach to address the problems of drugs, crime, lack of cleanliness and vagrancy.
The area has become a gathering place for young people who live on the highly addictive drug, known as whoonga.
A task team has been set up to identify the issues and coordinate all relevant departments and stakeholders to assist in dealing with social challenges in Albert Park.
Nxumalo said that the Albert Park issue is a societal challenge and requires input from all stakeholders, including parents, communities, non-governmental and faith-based organisations.
