EThekwini Municipality will bring smiles to the faces of many residents during Mandela Day celebrations tomorrow, 18 July, when KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nomusa Dube-Ncube and City officials, under the leadership of Mayor Zandile Gumede hand over houses and partake in several acts of kindness.
A massive clean-up at all 110 Municipal wards will also be conducted by councillors, community members, ward committees and war rooms.
Highlighting the importance of cleanliness, Mayor Gumede called on eThekwini residents to take pride in their areas. Cleanliness, she said, should be embedded in all our conscience. “We should make cleanliness part of our daily lives and not just a once off on Mandela Day,” she said, calling on all residents to roll up their sleeves and clean-up their wards.
This will be part of the massive Operation Khuculul’iTheku campaign also known as Operation Spring Clean eThekwini.
In other wards there will be a stream clean-up and planting of trees, where members of the community will be educated about the negative impact of littering on the environment and infrastructure such as stormwater drains.
Running parallel to the Municipality’s programme, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Social Development Weziwe Thusi will distribute blankets and vanity cases to the elderly, while the Youth Office will visit young people in various hospitals.
At City Hall, Church Walk in Ward 28 from 10am, residents will be educated about the City’s Supply Chain Management Policy and the Radical Economic Transformation Framework. Safer Cities Unit will host a dialogue on the scourge of socials ills such as women abuse and drug addiction.
A mobile clinic will also be in the area for free health screenings. The City Integrity and Investigations Unit with inform residents about basic human rights and how to report any violation of these rights. Between 12pm and 1pm, there will be a 67 minutes aerobics session where residents will be encouraged to “work-out for Madiba”.
The aerobics session aims to promote health and fitness as well as highlight the importance of regular exercise.
A brand new kitchen will also be donated to a drug rehabilitation centre and an elderly organisation, while the City will also revamp dilapidated structures belonging to non-profit organisations. Free health screenings and eye tests will also be the order of the day in several communities throughout eThekwini.
Accompanied by City officials, councillors and local musicians, MEC Dube-Ncube and Mayor Gumede will be on a mission to improve the lives of those in need through robust social upliftment initiatives in honouring the late iconic former statesman Dr Nelson Mandela.
The day’s proceeding will start at Ward 101, where the entire Cato Manor precinct will be cleaned.
The delegation will then make its way to Ward 17 where 300 title deeds will be handed over to Mawelewele residents. Four homes will also be handed over to wheelchair bound people at Grassland Savannah Park. An old age home at Klaarwater in Umkhomazi Street will be cleaned and revamped.
In Ward 56 in Inanda, five houses will be handed over. City leadership will then proceed to Abalindi Welfare Society in the same Ward where they will roll up their sleeves to give the facility a much needed revamp.
Mayor Gumede also calls on all councillors to work hand-in-hand with residents and ensure that they actively participate in all service delivery programmes taking place in their wards.
