The youth of 1976 fought hard to take back their country from the crippling effects of apartheid and injustice. Now that freedom has been attained, we are faced with constant reality of our communities being riddled with litter and the environment being compromised.

The Clean and Maintain My City programmes’ focus in Youth Month was on youth taking back their public spaces. Two eventswere held at the Umlazi and Folweni sports ground, with a third in Cato Manor.

Youth were rallied to these events where they took to the streets to conduct clean-up campaigns, garner support from their communities and participate in sporting activities to become “Clean My City Champions” in soccer and netball. These spaces would then be adopted by the winning champions and a commitment was made to use these spaces for recreational purposes.

Carrers in waste management

Various Municipal departments exhibited their services including Durban Solid Waste, Business Support, Community Participation, Human Resources, Water with the Save Water campaign and Fire and Emergency Services.

The youth of eThekwini were receptive to this initiative and Nhlaka Nxumalo, part of the winning soccer team in uMlazi said, “All learners present here today to take part in sports are taking a positive step as it discourages us from getting involved in drugs, alcohol and crime. I encourage the youth to clean up and engage in these sports as taking ownership of our communities starts with us.”

Area development committee member, Albert Dlamini commented, “On behalf of the Folweni Community, we are very happy and grateful to the municipality for hosting this programme.

We hope that this will motivate the youth to put the teachings into practice and not only look after the environment but the individuals’ health. The youth sees that the municipality is aware of the talents budding in this community and are hopeful for the future.”