IN ITS quest to make Durban Africa’s most caring and livable city, which is espoused in the eThekwini Municipality’s Vision 2030, the entity embarked on an exercise to clean-up one of the most unkempt parts of the city.
A coordinated effort to remove rubbish strewn on Warwick Avenue, relocate vagrants, who have made this part of the CBD their abode, and give the area an overall better look and feel, was conducted on Sunday.
The city’s Cleansing and Solid Waste and the Metro police’s-law enforcement and oversight unit, were among the teams that were involved in the operation.
Vision 2030 is the municipality’s effort to ensure that all its citizens and stakeholders are able to live and thrive in clean and safe neighborhoods and thereby contribute towards a vibrant and sustainable economy.
The municipality is cognisant that to achieve those objectives of providing a better quality of life for everyone in the city it needed to improve its service delivery, infrastructure and champion the cause for social equity and environmental sustainability.
eThekwini Vision 2030 was launched in 2019 under the banner of the city’s District Development Model (DDM) project. The DDM received the Cabinet’s approval for implementation at the time and, and eThekwini was one of three pilot cities for the model.
During Sunday’s exercise Victor Mkhize (CSW), Noxolo Mteshane (Ensure/Ubuntu) and a senior metro police officer were the coordinators.
Much planning and preparation had to be done prior to the operation, where all the respective teams, which included cleaners, security and metro police members, received comprehensive briefings to ensure a unified and effective approach.
Some of the operational achievements included the humane removal of a significant number of vagrants from the area, and efforts were made to connect them to appropriate social services structures.
Many tons of rubble and unauthorized structures were dismantled and cleared, in an effort to restore the area’s aesthetic and functional integrity.
A Tractor-Loader-Backhoe (TLB) and four tipper trucks were deployed to assist with the removal of dispose of many mounds of waste material and debris that has been piling up.
Approximately 500 refuse bags were utilised to bag the waste that was collected and significantly improve the cleanliness of the vicinity.
Pressure washing was also carried out to eliminate grime and surface contaminants, to further enhance the area’s general appearance and hygiene.
The success of the operation was attributed to the collaborative efforts of all departments that were involved.
DAILY NEWS