Note to editors: You can download sound clips in English and Afrikaans from Leander Kruger MPL
You can download photographs of the cleanup events here, here, here, here, here, and here. You can download photographs of the City Hall event here, here, here, and here.
Today, DA councillors, activists, and community members rolled up their sleeves for clean-up activities across Buffalo City, taking our message directly into communities: Stop the Chaos. Start Service Delivery.
Following the clean-ups, I, together with DA Buffalo City Caucus Leader Cllr Sue Bentley, our councillors, and activists, took that message to City Hall.
Our teams collected more than 500 bags of filth across the Buffalo City region in a single morning of clean-up operations.
Today’s activities demonstrated what people can achieve when they work together. But community action cannot replace a functioning municipality. Residents should not have to organise clean-ups to secure the basic standard of cleanliness their municipality should provide.
Our communities deserve a municipality that takes responsibility for keeping their neighbourhoods clean and delivering reliable basic services.
Clean streets are about more than appearances. They are about dignity, public health, and the right to live in a neighbourhood that is cared for. Whether residents live in Mdantsane, Nompumelelo, or the city’s suburbs, they deserve dependable services and a municipality that responds when things go wrong.
Buffalo City needs leadership that gets the basics right. Collecting refuse, maintaining public spaces, fixing infrastructure, and accounting for the money entrusted to it. Residents deserve councillors and officials who spend their time solving community problems.
Our message outside City Hall was clear: We have cleaned up our streets. Now it is time to clean up City Hall.
On 4 November, residents can turn their frustration into action at the ballot box. Every vote matters, and every voter has a role to play in choosing a government that puts service delivery first.
Vote DA to Stop the Chaos. Start Service Delivery. Together, we can get Buffalo City working for all.