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Help the Chamber assess and quantify Walmer protest damages

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A delegation from the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber visited some of the affected Walmer businesses on Friday following the violence, intimidation and destruction of property last week when shops were badly vandalized. Employees were still traumatised, following the violation of their rights to work and operate their businesses.

The situation is considered to be totally unacceptable by the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber and hence the chamber has requested members to give input on the damages suffered by them. Many are still adding up their losses from last week, which is estimated to be hundreds of thousands of rand in loss of turnover and wastage.

Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber CEO Kevin Hustler says; “We can ill afford such events as a city. It is not only very bad in terms of investor confidence and our attractiveness as an investment destination for both foreign and domestic investors, but it also on the psyche of our citizens.

“After personally witnessing the wanton violence and chaotic anarchy on the ground on Thursday and having visited some affected members and non-members on Friday, the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber is now undertaking concerted efforts to address these matters with the city leadership, as well as, the South African Police Service.

“It is the opinion of the Business Chamber that the South African Police Service needed to have had a much stronger measure of visible resources and personnel present on the ground to have avoided spreading of the unrest and arrested the obvious criminal element threatening lives and property.

“The level of civil unrest in relationship to lack of service delivery has been increasing substantially in Nelson Mandela Bay. We implore Executive Mayor Danny Jordaan and the metro leadership to engage proactively with the communities within the identified service delivery hotspots to ensure that these situations are not repeated and that the commitments to the communities are upheld timeously.”

The Business Chamber has reached out to all it’s members based in the Walmer area with the attached correspondence and asks if for whatever reason you have not received this directly, that affected business’s complete the necessary information as a matter of urgency and to return it the Chamber’s offices in the event that your business was directly affected by last week’s protest action.

Download and fill in this form: Walmer Damages.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.