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Parliamentary task team to save Nelson Mandela Bay from collapse

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Dear MyPE

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is on the verge of collapse.

The City has been brought to its knees by the UDM’s Mayor, Cllr Mongameli Bobani, and his coalition of corruption consisting of the UDM, ANC, AIC, PA and the United Front.

Since his election as Mayor in September 2018 Nelson Mandela Bay has regressed on all governance, financial and service delivery indicators.

The controversial drain cleaning tender awarded in December 2018, commonly known as the ‘Great Drain Heist’, has allegedly been linked to the killings of at least 18 people. It is strongly suspected that these killings are politically motivated in a City now governed by fear and retribution.

To make matters worse Day Zero has arrived in parts of Nelson Mandela Bay with dam levels at critically low levels and no plan from the Mayor to deal with this crisis.

Between September 2018 to present, the coalition of corruption has devastated the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality:

  • Under expenditure has reached crisis levels with little to no spending or service delivery taking place
  • National Treasury is recalling R3 Billion from the controversial IPTS bus system which is will bankrupt the municipality
  • In the last year 18 people have been killed in what appear to be politically motivated hits
  • Day Zero has arrived in NMB with no drought disaster declaration in place and no plan to deal with the imminent complete water outage
  • There have been 6 acting city managers in one year
  • A team from the Auditor General’s office fled the city after receiving death threats
  • Council meetings are not consistently convened
  • Mayoral Council (MayCo) Meetings are not held and council committees are not meeting

In stark contrast, the DA-led government achieved the following successes between 2016 and 2018:

  • The City was financially liquid with over R2 billion in the bank and received a AAA credit rating;
  • Achieved annual financial statements that indicate the administration has achieved record levels of spending in the financial year 2017/18;
  • Installed the first ever metro police force, with 135 fully trained officers who have attended to over 25 000 crime fighting interactions;
  • Boasts one of the best Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG) spending performances in the country at 100% this year;
  • Has successfully exposed and stopped corruption on contracts to the tune of R615 million, eradicated 9046 bucket toilets, resurfaced 55 820 square metres of road and managed to triple the number of annual jobs created by the EPWP (Expanded Public Works Program);
  • Significantly improved turnaround times on administrative functions such as building plan approval and rates clearance transactions;
  • The Shot-spotter technology installed in Helenvale also proved to be a great success and within 90 days of its installation, gunshots were reduced by 90%; and
  • IPTS busses are on the road, and the highly secured Clearly Park Bus Depot has been completed.
  • NMB under the leadership of Athol Trollip and the previous DA-led coalition government is the only metro in the country that improved its score on the South African customer satisfaction index (SA-csi) barometer in 2018 – increasing from 59.0 to 61.9 year on year. This placed NMB in second place behind the City of Cape Town, also a DA-led metro.

The DA has written to President Ramaphosa, the Minister for COGTA, the Premier of the Eastern Cape and MECs yet our please have fallen on deaf ears.

The situation in NMB is a national crisis which threatens to destabilize a major Metropolitan Municipality and the ANC government has failed to provide leadership.

Considering the critical situation in NMB I will be convening a task team of DA Members of Parliament to focus on interventions that can rescue Nelson Mandela Bay from the coalition of corruption.

It is time to dismantle the ‘Gangster State’ in Nelson Mandela Bay and resort good governance to the people.

Regards

John Steenhuisen MP
DA Parliamentary Leader

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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.