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Hold a Council Meeting Within 72 Hours or…

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Dear Editor

The unfolding grant funding crisis in Nelson Mandela Bay has necessitated the Democratic Alliance (DA) to demand that an urgent council meeting be held within the next 72 hours. This follows the postponement of a scheduled council meeting last week amidst growing concerns about the impasse between the Metro and National Treasury.

National Treasury is currently withholding nearly R800 million in grant funding from the Metro.

I have written to Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor, Gary van Niekerk, and the Speaker of Council, Eugene Johnson, to call upon them to urgently schedule a meeting. We have also requested that Council be fully briefed as to the extent of the crisis and what has been done to address the impasse.

The decision to cancel the scheduled meeting followed shortly after Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, addressed formal correspondence to the mayor, in which stern demands were made in order for National Treasury to start releasing grant funding. Since the beginning of this crisis Council has not been briefed once as to the adverse risk that the impasse with Treasury poses to the residents of Nelson Mandela Bay.

It is now evident that amidst the single biggest crisis to face the municipality in recent years there is seemingly also a leadership vacuum in City Hall with Mayor Van Niekerk running away from accounting to Council.

The ANC/EFF/NA/PA coalition is willing to compromise the lives of 1,3 million people in the Metro just so that one, connected individual can be appointed to a top job.

The DA will not allow this to happen. We are in your corner, fighting for you. Together we can get NMB working again.

Regards

Cllr Georgina Faldtman
DA NMB Caucus Chief Whip

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