Finance minister Tito Mboweni has bemoaned the state of downtown Johannesburg’s streets, describing them as filthy and embarrassing.
In a tweet on Thursday, Mboweni compared the city’s roads to those in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, which he said are “clean and beautiful”.
“What a contrast!” said Mboweni of the two cities.
Yesterday, December 26, 2018, I decided to drive around the Johannesburg CBD. It was filthy and embarrassing. I came across these shacks in the middle of our city. This morning I arrived to a clean and beautiful city of Kigali, Rwanda. What a contrast! pic.twitter.com/VGewkVntba
— Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) December 27, 2018
In an updated tweet, Mboweni said all of us have a responsibility to keep our towns, cities and the countryside clean and habitable. “If we don’t throw dirt around and the municipalities collect rubbish regularly, we can achieve a lot,” he said.
Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba has been at the forefront of attempts to keep the city clean since he was elected. His monthly, city-wide volunteer cleaning campaign, A Re Sebetseng, was launched in August 2017. It is based on Kigali’s successful monthly cleaning campaign, Umuganda.
A Re Sebetseng means “let’s work” and calls on communities to take ownership of their communities by working towards a common goal: a clean city.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.