Whilst congratulating functionaries and political staff on a successful Summer Season, Executive Mayor Athol Trollip shared his ‘painful’ and surprising experience at a roadblock:
“The success of our recent summer season in Nelson Mandela Bay reflects what can be achieved when government listens to its residents, promotes inter-departmental cooperation and delivers on its core functions with precision,” said Trollip as he read out letters of appreciation sent to staff and political heads.
During the summer season period, 27 people were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, 61 893 speeding offences were recorded, 236 warrants of arrest were executed and outstanding fines to the value of R246 100 were collected. During December 2016 Metro Police and Traffic Officers issued just over R1.1 Million in various traffic fines resulting from patrols and roadblocks.
The Opening of the Season and New Year’s Eve respectively saw 170 000 and 300 000 people visiting the city’s beaches. Excellent coordination and cooperation between departments, community safety buy-in from residents and tourists meant that not a single major incident was recorded during this time.
“This was the first holiday season in many years where not a single drowning occurred, despite the city only having 69 life savers on duty – 12 less than the recommended minimum for Port Elizabeth’s 120 kilometres of beaches,” said Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Mayoral Council member for Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Siyasanga Sijadu.
Executive Mayor Athol Trollip said; “We were able to halve road fatalities to 5 people in comparison to the same time a year ago. The untimely loss of these people is a tragedy, yet I am encouraged by the downward trend of these figures. I would like to see this trend continue so that one year, not long from now, we can announce zero drownings and zero road fatalities.”
The mayor is confident that recently implemented and stricter law enforcement measures, such as frequent road blocks, have slowly begun to undo the culture of lawlessness.
As such, the city’s roads and beaches are becoming safer, anti-social behaviour is being monitored and reduced which is precisely the sort of change that this government promised when it took office in August 2016.
Safety and Security Portfolio Head, John Best said that this Summer Season was the first in many years that saw not one reported knifing incident and was full of praise for new Metro Police Chief Yolanda Faro, the former acting Metro Police Chief in Cape Town who took up her new post on 1 December 2016.
Alan Straton
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