EThekwini Mayor Zandile Gumede has tasked senior management from Durban Solid Waste to work with the Mayoral Parlour to clean up the City.

The joint operation will focus on accelerating the pace of tasks such as grass cutting and tree and litter removal so that the city will be clean for Christmas.

Gumede said while there are people on the ground working, the City was not clean. “We cannot celebrate Christmas in a dirty City. So this team, from my office, will be coordinating with supervisors responsible for the cleaning and maintaining of our City to ensure that people are working. We want to see the grass cut and litter being picked up,” she explained.

Delivering on promises made

She said cleaning up the City and ensuring basic service delivery was in her manifesto when she took office and she aimed to deliver on these promises.

“I want it to be done now. I will deliver on my promise to residents to get the City clean,” she said.

She also took the opportunity to thank City Manager Sipho Nzuza and his team for their hard work cleaning up the City.

“You have been cracking your whip and I can see a difference. I drive around the City and I have already seen improvements in some areas where there were issues. While there has been a lot of focus on the inner city we must also focus on the outer lying areas such as Phoenix where grass cutting is an issue as well as rural areas within our ward,” Mayor Gumede added.