Durban- The eThekwini Municipality has appointed street ambassadors as part of its effort to keep the city clean.
It revealed recently that it had concluded the process of recruiting street ambassadors under the Public Employment Programme (PEP).
These ambassadors will support the City’s inner-city regeneration teams.
Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said recently, “The city has been grappling with the issue of keeping the city centre and secondary CBDs such as Isipingo, Pinetown, Verulam and oThongathi clean.
As part of the response to this issue of cleanliness, “The city has also concluded the process of recruiting street ambassadors under the Public Employment Programme (PEP) who will support our inner-city regeneration teams to enforce trading by-laws, public safety, bad buildings and waste management by-laws,” said Kaunda.
The state of cleanliness has been a serious concern with councillors and residents complaining about crime and grime. Vagrancy, littering and failure to collect refuse on time are among the problems that contribute to the poor cleanliness of the city.
Other councillors have complained that the “lack” of ablution facilities that could be used by the homeless was contributing to the problem as the homeless, sometimes, relieve themselves in public spaces.
“This has always been a concern for us as the leadership of eThekwini because the CBD is the heartbeat of any city. Equally, our secondary CBDs are a hive of economic activity, so we should not compromise when it comes to implementing an effective waste management programme.
“As such, the leadership of the city has been conducting walkabouts in all hot spot areas to identify the kind of interventions required to rid the city of grime and filth.
“We then embarked on an aggressive cleaning programme which is beginning to yield positive results as evidenced by the law-enforcement officers deployed to many street corners to enforce the city’s by-laws,” said Kaunda.