The DA: You deserve clean, safe communities you can be proud to live in
NOTE: This statement is here because I played a role in creating it while eThekwini Campaign Manager in the 2011 Local Government Elections.
The DA: You deserve clean, safe communities you can be proud to live in
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Democratic Alliance eThekwini Mayoral candidate, Ronnie Veeran and his team descended on Lenham in Phoenix today to kick off the DA’s Civic Pride Campaign.
In the face of the failure of the eThekweni Municipality to properly maintain the area, the DA Mayoral Candidate lead a team of supporters and community members in a cleanup of the Rucklen Place flats.
Residents have complained for many months about council’s inability to maintain the public open spaces in the area. Grass verges have not been cut for many months, refuse and rubble is dumped indiscriminately and broken glass makes it dangerous for children and pedestrians.
Cllr Veeran lead a team which cleaned up the area around Rucklen Place, cutting and raking grass verges, collecting litter and picking up broken glass.
The DA believes that municipal maintenance of our built and green environment must be properly managed in order to ensure a clean and safe space for people to live and work. Untidy and dirty public spaces also make criminals feel welcome in our communities. We deserve clean, well maintained spaces where criminals feel uncomfortable operating,and where children and pedestrians feel safe to play and move in their communities.
In the City of Cape Town, the DA has focused on creating safer communities by focussing on good planning, improved maintenance and the delivery of new infrastructure. Khayelitsha is South Africa’s third largest township and was notoriously poorly planned and devoid of community infrastructure. The City of Cape Town under DA governance has changed both the urban landscape and the lives of ordinary people in Khayelitsha.
Focusing on four ‘safe nodes’ in the community, neatly paved walkways, regularly spaced streetlamps, public squares and multi-functional modern public buildings have replaced informal sprawl. The maintenance of these and other public spaces is well managed and creates a cleaner, safer environment than existed before.
The residents of Phoenix and every other community in South Africa deserve safe, clean communities. A DA government in eThekwini would ensure that capable officials would drive a programme of cleaning, maintenance and rolling out new infrstructure to make our communities safer and cleaner to live in.
