ETHEKWINI Mayor Zandile Gumede has asked the city’s service departments to put more effort into keeping the city clean.
Gumede announced at a meeting of the Executive Committee this week that senior management from the Mayoral Parlour and Durban Solid Waste would work with supervisors from service departments responsible for keeping the city clean. The focus will be on tasks such as grass cutting, tree removal and picking up litter, and the mayor wants it done at an accelerated pace.
Gumede said she had tasked senior management from Durban Solid Waste to work with Acting Head of the Mayoral Parlour Martin Xaba to deal with issues of cleanliness in the City.
“Firstly, since the storms experienced in the City there have been a number of tree stumps that need to be removed but no one is taking responsibility for it. This team will also monitor the serious issue of grass cutting and other issues around cleanliness in the City.” Gumede went on to complain that while there were people on the ground working, the City was not clean.
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“We cannot celebrate Christmas in a dirty City. So this team, from my office, will be coordinating with supervisors responsible for the cleaning and maintaining of our City to ensure that people are working. We want to see the grass cut and litter being picked up,” she said, adding that ensuring basic service delivery and cleaning up the City was part of her manifesto when she took office and she aimed to deliver on her promises. “I want it to be done now. I will deliver on my promise to residents to get the City clean,” she said.
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Gumede said with the Festive Season approaching she wanted to ensure lifeguards had all the tools necessary to do their jobs, adding that it was within the budget to equip them with everything necessary to do their jobs.
She also took the opportunity to thank City Manager Sipho Nzuza and his team for their hard work cleaning up the City. “You have been cracking your whip and I can see a difference. I drive around the City and I have already seen improvements in some areas where there were issues. While there has been a lot of focus on the inner city we must also focus on the outer lying areas such as Phoenix where grass cutting is an issue as well as rural areas within our ward,” Mayor Gumede added.
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