City Story: The vision for a better Durban

City Story's collaborative efforts have identified key areas the team hope to influence - which include business, education, the church and civic society.  

The initiative's Chris du Toit, Dumile Cele and Lindokuhle Khoza spoke to Newswatch about their vision for the project. 

Changing the way in which community members view their city is a start, Lindokuhle Khoza says. 

"The biggest challenge is the mindset of the people of Durban - where they've looked down on the city. We have come to a point where we've said we can't just be overwhelmed with problems but let's sit down and [pinpoint] the issues, categorise them as well as how we can deal with them. One of the main focuses are how do we rearrange the narrative of the city, and how do we win back our own hearts and minds into loving the city and responding to its needs - be it education, governance, business or social ills," Khoza said. 

City Story released a video that's since been widely shared on social media - as part of a response to a series on the city of Durban on Carte Blanche that highlighted the city's crime levels, among other safety concerns. 

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Du Toit says the reaction to the video, that calls on public participation, has been overwhelming. 

"Within 24 hours, we had over 2000 people signing up on Facebook saying, that they want to be part of the solution. That showed us that people are looking for vision and hope. And somehow as leaders, if we can give people something to run towards - they will run. We were very encouraged by the responses from Durbanites in that people want to take ownership," Du Toit said. 

While, Dumile Cele says local organisations have also shown interest in the campaign. 

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