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.

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...

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