Festive season launched by eThekwini Municipality

AS part of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government’s efforts to drastically reduce crime and ensure a safer festive season, Premier Sihle Zikalala and the City launched the multi-disciplinary crime-fighting intervention programme, Operation Vala, on Friday, 11 December in eThekwini.

The main aim of Operation Vala, is to tighten security measures across the province through law enforcement operations, monitoring cross border and inter-provincial movement in order to ensure safety during the festive season period and beyond.

Premier Zikalala together with members of provincial executive council and eThekwini Metro Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, joined intelligence driven multi-disciplinary operations targeting all forms of crime and also embarked on a massive Covid-19 health and safety awareness drive at the Durban Beachfront, targeting restaurants.
There was also a Meet and Greet at the Durban Beachfront to engage with tourists on Friday morning, along with a military parade of law enforcement agencies to People’s Park.

Speaking at People’s Park, Mayor Kaunda said the 2020 holiday season comes with unique challenges as we continue to battle Covid-19. He said the current spike in Covid-19 infections calls for more vigilance and enforcement of compliance with all the safety protocols.
“The launch of Operation Vala in Durban is significant because as the economic powerhouse of KwaZulu-Natal we know that the increase of crime in eThekwini has a negative impact on the entire province. Therefore, we are optimistic that Operation Vala will go a long way in creating safe living spaces in crime hotspot areas in eThekwini such as Inanda, KwaMashu, Phoenix and Umlazi which have become notorious for, among other things, sexual offences,” he said.

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He emphasised people needed to work together with a unity of purpose so both visitors and residents can have a safe and memorable festive season.
“eThekwini is known for drawing thousands of visitors who want to come and experience our warm beaches and enjoy other tourist attractions, however, due to the pandemic, we saw a dramatic decline of visitors into our city. During the Easter season alone, eThekwini, lost 165 000 visitors which resulted in the loss of R600m in contribution to the GDP. The hospitality and leisure industry alone, lost R 4.7 billion of potential revenue,” he said.

Kaunda said since the country moved to alert level one of the lockdown in September, there has been the reopening of the tourism industry in the city.
“Last week, we started our Rediscover Durban Summer Campaign by unveiling destination photo frames on our coastline to ensure that visitors have a memorable experience when they visit Durban attractions. This campaign came hot on the heels of the declaration of a blue flag status of our five beaches by the Wildlife and Environment Society South Africa. Other seven beaches are currently being assessed to be granted a fully-fledged blue flag status. As we encourage visitors to come to our city, we are mindful of the fact that the country is entering the second wave of Covid-19 and we urge our visitors and residents to adhere to all safety protocols and avoid super-spreader events,” he said.

The city has put measures in place to ensure that people who come to the city have a safe and memorable stay:

• Free park and ride shuttle service at the Drive Inn to prevent congestion along the beach;
• Closure of certain routes leading to the beach;
• Close monitoring of congestion at the beach by Metro Police and CCTV cameras;
• Constant deep cleaning and sanitization of ablution facilities;
• Deployment of 250 lifeguards;
• Procurement of seven receiving tents for separated children;
• Deployment of 32 child minders;
• Procurement of 200 000 arm bands;
• Deployment of 130 cleaning staff;
• Recruitment of 69 beach guides; and
• No consumption of alcohol will be allowed along the beach.

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