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Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality has been hijacked

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Dear MyPE

The Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality has been hijacked by dubious individuals whilst the Provincial Government has been sleeping.

A letter from National Treasury addressed to Nelson Mandela Bay yesterday revealed that the metro administration has essentially forfeited R800 million in grant funding for the previous financial year and will also not be receiving a cent in grant funding for the new financial year until the city gets its house in order.

Amongst the key demands that the city received from Treasury are the following:

  1. The vacancy for Executive Mayor must be filled;
  2. A qualified Municipal Manager has to be lawfully appointed
  3. Recommendations on Forensic Investigations need to be implemented.

Against this backdrop I want to ask, where has this provincial government been? There has been no Executive Mayor in Nelson Mandela Bay for seven months already. Where has the Premier been? Why has he not acted?

Over the last three week period there has been an Acting Municipal Manager that has been appointed unlawfully, and clearly does not hold the minimum competencies to act in this position.

More importantly however, this individual has repeatedly been implicated in impropriety and now he is control of an institution with a R13 Billion budget. Where has the MEC for CoGTA been? Why has he not acted?

The MEC Nqatha has been kept abreast of all the developments in Nelson Mandela Bay, and yet he has done nothing to intervene and prevent the systematic collapse of this city.

Early in June, the office of Minister Nkosana-Dlamini Zuma instructed the MEC to compile a report on how the provincial department of CoGTA will ensure that the vacancy of the Executive Mayor is filled.

The province hasn’t even responded to Minister’s Office!

Is it any wonder the MEC Nqatha needs Treasury to bail out 14 of his municipalities, when his department can’t even compile a simple report for his national counterpart!

This provincial government has now become complicit in the hijacking of Nelson Mandela Bay by individuals with dubious agendas. These individuals’ are not afraid of you, because they think this provincial government is weak.

Deputy Speaker, together we can stop the looting in Nelson Mandela Bay. I now call upon the Honourable Premier to honour his oath of office and to stand up for the people of Nelson Mandela Bay.

Instruct CoGTA to facilitate the process to fill the vacancy of Executive Mayor forthwith and second a suitable individual in terms of Section 154 to the City to act as Municipal Manager!

Regards

Retief Odendaal

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Port Elizabethan

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.