Durban - The mayor of Endumeni Local Municipality (Dundee), Siyabonga Ndlovu, says their efforts to keep the northern KwaZulu-Natal city clean will involve closing down suspected drug dens.
Ndlovu says that, in this regard, the Department of Home Affairs will be called in to help them to determine the immigration status of the many people alleged to be behind the drug dens and the rot evident in the town’s central business district.
Dundee, a coal-mining town, is the headquarters of the Umzinyathi District Municipality and it is the most economically vibrant urban centre in the district.
Ndlovu made this comment on the sidelines of the launch of this year’s popular “Dundee July” horse race on Friday at the Battlefields Resort. This was after he was asked about the sudden improvement of the town's cleanliness and street maintenance.
He said the success in cleaning the small town - once counted among the dirtiest in the province - was due to 300 volunteers they hired immediately after assuming office in November last year.
He said the volunteers’ contracts would end soon and they would be absorbed into the EPWP (expanded public works programme) programme so that they continued to clean the town.
Ndlovu said the next move was to eliminate alleged drug dens near the taxi rank and near Dundee secondary school.
“Our next stop is going to be about cleaning all those places that are tainting our town, the suspected drug dens. First, we have to determine the immigration status of those people who are there, so immigration services will be roped in to help us.
“Once we are done, those who have to be deported will be deported and then we will turn our attention to our locals who are also involved in this and deal with them so that we have a clean and safe town of Dundee,” Ndlovu said.
The municipality is run by the IFP after it ended the 10-year rule of the ANC last November.
Daily News