Durban – Msunduzi municipal authorities believe that active citizenry can play a huge role in ensuring that Pietermaritzburg is kept clean, and becomes a city that everyone is proud to live in.
This, as efforts to clean up the Central Business District and townships that fall under the municipality continue.
The clean-up campaign has been led primarily by deputy mayor Mxolisi Mkhize, who has sought to rally young people to be part of the solution to rid the capital city of litter, which has been an ongoing issue.
This past weekend the ward 12 community in Edendale township rolled up their sleeves, took gardening tools and went about cleaning their surroundings, targeting the library area, taxi rank and other spaces.
Ward councillor Nkosinathi Masoeu says they have decided to run the campaign regularly in order to ensure that the township is clean.
“The aim is to make ward 12 the cleanest in all of Msunduzi Municipality and we have managed to get volunteers that are part of this movement,” he said on Monday.
He says that the initiative has 45 volunteers who are focusing on the main roads and pavements in the township, ensuring that they are kept clean. The clean-up will be carried out from Monday to Thursday.
“The idea is that because we live in the township and filth affects us directly, we should not wait for the municipality to clean our area for us,” the councillor said.
He says they hope that more people, especially the youth, will become part of the initiative.
Municipal spokesperson Ntobeko Zondi said they were encouraged by the commitment local residents have demonstrated to clean up their areas, adding that they hope that more wards will adopt the habit instead of littering.