Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe has called on residents and businesses to help clean up their neighbourhoods and restore the metro to its former reputation as one of the country’s cleanest, as illegal dumping continues to blight public spaces.
Lobishe made the call on Tuesday during the launch of the municipality’s Love Your Street Campaign at Young Park, followed by a clean-up operation in Walmer Township targeting open spaces and recreational parks that had been turned into illegal dumping sites.
The campaign forms part of the municipality’s Cleaning and Greening Programme and aims to encourage communities and businesses to take collective responsibility for keeping their neighbourhoods clean, safe and habitable.
As part of the launch, Lobishe handed over a site to a contractor for the construction of a R1.5m recreation and healthy lifestyle park in Young Park.
The facility is expected to be completed by the end of January 2027.
“We need a community-based approach that brings together all relevant stakeholders.
"We need to take our city back to its glory years.
"By working together with our communities and stakeholders, this is possible,” Lobishe said.
The mayor emphasised that the Love Your Street Campaign was not a once-off initiative, but part of the metro's ongoing efforts to improve cleanliness and restore public spaces across the Bay.
“As part of the Cleaning and Greening Programme that we introduced last year in collaboration with the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment, we are now taking our efforts down to street level.
"This includes clean-ups, waste recycling, tree planting and cleanliness awareness campaigns," she said.
The campaign is expected to run until June 2027.
The municipality said its success would be measured partly by whether communities took ownership of their neighbourhoods and initiated their own cleanliness programmes, with municipal support.
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