ANC presidential hopeful Duduzane Zuma joins musicians and City of eThekwini to clean streets

ANC presidential hopeful Duduzane Zuma on Thursday ditched his suit and shirt for simpler trousers, gloves and a broom when he and popular KwaZulu-Natal musicians cleaned streets in Durban. 

The project was led by the eThekwini municipality and Durban solid waste collectors.

The “Spring Cleaning” initiative was joined by mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, deputy mayor Phumlani Mavundla and artists from Afrotainment led by owner Mthokozi “DJ Tira” Khathi and volunteers.

Cleaning operations started at King Dinizulu Park along Berea Road and moved to Julius Nyerere Road, through the busy English market and to the Durban city hall 2km away.

Mavundla told TimesLIVE the initiative was meant to encourage making a difference. 

He said it was not only an attempt to revive Durban tourism, but a call for a cleaner city in general. 

“Before we attract the tourists we need to love ourselves first. It’s time to love ourselves so that’s the message we’re spreading. Once the city is clean only then will we attract tourists,” said Mavundla.

The decision to invite entertainers and Zuma, who was visibly very popular with the youth, was a means to attract young people to join the initiative, Mavundla said. 

“This land belongs to the young people so we need to preserve it for them. It is important that as they grow and reach our age they find it intact. We owe it to them to teach them how things need to be done,” he said.

He said it was also an attempt at social cohesion, to encourage people from all over the city to take part.

Zuma said: “This initiative is more than cleaning and awareness. It’s about social cohesion and introducing people from different environments to something that should be done as a humanitarian process, as opposed to waiting for clean-up day or Spring Day.

“It should be a lifestyle for all of us because we can’t wait for other people to come and clean up our mess. We need to be part of cleaning up our communities.”

He said encouraging social cohesion was most important, especially in and around Durban following the July 2021 unrest.

“Without us working together from whatever background we’re — race, religion and your traditional and cultural practices — we are all in this thing together so unless we pull together it’s not going to work,” he said

“ If we keep segmented we will keep segregated among ourselves and this is what we will see on a daily. We will see untidiness, we will see mess, the issues of crime and unemployment will persist. The only way we can deal with these issues is if we come together and understand we all want the same outcomes and are fighting the same battles.”

DJ Tira said: “Anything that will make Durban shine and be part of that spirit of togetherness. To show we care about Durban, we thought it was important for us as Afro to take part in making our city clean. We were invited here, not paid,” he said.

The initiative is set to move to Cato Manor on Friday with the department of parks and recreation leading it.

TimesLIVE

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