PICS: Clamp down on illegal trading in Durban CBD

Published Jun 19, 2018

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Durban - In a bid to keep up its dedication to a cleaner city for all, eThekwini Municipality cleaned up the streets of the Durban Central Business District and surrounds. 

The city's Acting Head of Communications, Mandla Nsele, said on Monday, the streets of Isiphingo and the inner city were left clean with plenty of space for pedestrians to safely walk on the pavements as the city moved to clamp down on illegal trading. 

"Formal businesses were also asked not to trade on the pavements. Months of combined operations and enforcement to rejuvenate the CBD areas is beginning to take shape with dedicated teams out on the streets every day committed to creating a city that all residents can be proud of," he said. 

Head of the Development Planning and Environment Management Unit, Musa Mbhele said the Inner City regeneration programme offers eThekwini Municipality an exciting yet, challenging opportunity for regeneration of its main economic hubs. 

"This follows an extended period of urban decline caused by processes of decentralisation, further intensified by crime, grime, congestion, and unregulated trading. Consequently, urban decay manifests amongst others in bad buildings, illegal conversions, over-crowding, and poorly serviced, maintained and managed public spaces," he said. 

Mbhele said in line with the City Vision 2030, eThekwini Municipality’s urban regeneration has commenced in earnest with an approved strategy and its related implementation plan. 

"Multi-disciplinary teams have been assembled, and led jointly by the Economic Development and Trading Services Clusters. Pillar 1 of the implementation plan is in progress, constituting a massive clean-up and enforcement of Municipal by-laws. This operation tackles illegal trading, illegal businesses, illegal dumping and other contraventions," Mbhele said. 

While the city conducts daily enforcement action in both these areas, they will conduct continuous intensified operations to deter illegal activity bring law and order to the public realm.

"We will be coming down hard on all forms of bylaw contraventions using a multidisciplinary approach involving numerous departments within the city," Nsele added. 

He said the vision of the regeneration plan emphasized that “by 2040 eThekwini inner city will be Africa’s leading, most vibrant, liveable, walkable city centre providing economic, residential, sporting and leisure opportunities for all”. It sets out a clear institutional mechanism to help drive inner city development. As a long term regeneration strategy, the municipality will deal with issues of security; crime and grime and will address bad buildings which is causing the key economic nodes to appear dilapidated and unsafe.

The city is calling on residents, traders, businesses to comply with city by-laws in an effort to ensure that we build a city that is indeed a caring and most liveable one as per the vision.

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