MyPE

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Don’t Ditch Debates, Mr Mayor – NMB deserves answers

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Dear MyPE

Today I formally challenge ANC Mayor, Danny Jordaan, to come out of hiding and participate in this Sunday’s scheduled SABC debate at 16:00 at PE’s City Hall. I put this challenge to the Mayor, on behalf of thousands of NMB residents who live in a daily struggle to get ahead, because their local government is failing them.

Danny Jordaan is the only ANC Mayor to have rejected this invitation from the SABC to participate in an election debate, to be recorded on Sunday in NMB, passing the buck instead to Cllr Litho Suka. It is now abundantly clear that Mayor Jordaan has no good story to tell, and no inclination to tell it.

On the 11th April 2016, when I revealed that Mayor Jordaan had avoided a live national television debate against me by refusing to engage with the organisers, his office made out that there was nothing wrong with this act of hiding from the people. So I again extend another challenge to the Mayor: Come out and debate your NMB record, your involvement in the FIFA bribe scandal, your criminal appointments and broken promises, and your very close allegiance to Jacob Zuma.

The people deserve accountability and openness. Your avoidance of public debates and important meetings epitomises the government of Jacob Zuma that constantly refuses to be held to account. So Mayor Jordaan, do you have the courage to debate or not?

I have criss-crossed NMB over the past year and seen the lack of delivery in this Metro. Widespread poverty, unemployment, undignified sanitation and thousands of bucket toilets, horrendous water losses, crumbling roads, dilapidated RDP houses and a Metro that is being taken backwards, by the ANC.

There is no good governance story to tell here in Nelson Mandela Bay, but that seemingly won’t stop the ANC from pretending that there is.

Real good governance starts with change and a new DA government, to see this Metro turned around and moving forward again.

With immediate infrastructure upgrades, economic development that creates jobs, zero-tolerance on corruption and quality housing projects, Nelson Mandela Bay will quickly rise to the top, just as Cape Town did after the DA took over.

I am ready to debate Mayor Danny Jordaan on his record. Mr Mayor, will you come out of hiding?

We are ready to govern in NMB. We are ready to change lives.

Regards

Athol Trollip

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This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.