MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

Odendaal will keep fighting

By

Dear Editor

The removal of Executive Mayor, DA councillor Retief Odendaal, and his multi-party coalition government, has signalled a sad end to what has been one of the most positive and prosperous eight months in Nelson Mandela Bay in the last three decades.

At a special council meeting today in the Feather Market Hall in Nelson Mandela Bay the ANC-EFF Doomsday Coalition completed its power grab though a frivolous motion of no confidence and installed a puppet mayor in the form of former council Speaker, Gary van Niekerk.

The ANC and EFF will now have unlimited access to the city’s R18 billion budget and the ‘Judas’ Mayor Van Niekerk will dance to their tune, all for the sake of a shiny mayoral chain and a large salary.

Since the coalition took over the reins of government on 21 September 2022, there has been improved service delivery, a crackdown on corruption, and an air of optimism and hope amongst residents. The ANC-EFF coalition wishes to derail this progress and line their pockets with the city’s money.

Under the leadership of former Mayor Odendaal, the coalition government successfully avoided Day Zero, got the housing delivery program back on track and constructed 500 RDP-houses.

The city started delivering services and the midterm performance assessment, showed a 40% increase in key performance indicators for service delivery compared to the previous financial year under an ANC-government.

The multi-party coalition managed to fix more than 20 000 potholes, 15 000 water leaks, 13 000 streetlights, approved 150 town planning amendments, and created nearly 5000 EPWP job opportunities – to name but a few.

Despite all of this progress, Van Niekerk’s greed and lust for prestige, has led to him selling the people of Nelson Mandela Bay out for thirty pieces of silver.

The DA would like to thank its coalition partners who stayed the course for their efforts to build a prosperous Nelson Mandela Bay.

To the Northern Alliance, PAC and AIC we say that our door remains open and we are willing to negotiate for the sake of the people of Nelson Mandela Bay.

The removal of former Mayor Odendaal and his coalition, however, does not spell the end of the DA’s fight for the residents of this beautiful city. We will continue this battle from the opposition benches and we will hold the ANC-EFF Doomsday Coalition and its puppet mayor to account.

Regards

Andrew Whitfield MP
DA EC Provincial Leader

The following two tabs change content below.

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.