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What Mayor Johnson Said Today

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STATEMENT BY COUNCILLOR EUGENE JOHNSON, THE EXECUTIVE MAYOR OF NELSON MANDELA BAY MUNICIPALITY AT THE COUNCIL MEETING ON MONDAY, 28 FEBRUARY 2022:

Honourable Speaker
Members of Mayoral Committee
Councillor Colleagues
Acting City Manager
Officials
Members of the Media
The Public Gallery
Ladies and gentlemen

Molweni! Goeie more! Good morning! A hearty welcome to you all!

On Monday, 14 February 2022 we woke up to the spine chilling news of the tragic death of Councillor Mzwandile Booi. Burdened with grief, we laid him to rest on Saturday, 26 February 2022.

Allow me to convey, once more, our collective condolences as the Council and the people of the City.

I also want to convey a message of condolence to the family who lost their child due to E-Coli and to the family of Speaker Garry van Niekerk on the passing away of his partner. I also wish a speedy recovery of those who are still in hospital. We are still waiting for the results of investigations by law enforcement agencies in this regard.

We are also saddened by the passing away of uNkosi Ngangomhlaba Mathanzima of Abathembu.

We have just finished SA cricket T 20 tournament yesterday and unfortunately our Warriors team did not make it to the finals but we wish them well in their future competitions. Last weekend we hosted a successful Herald cycle Tour which was the 36th Edition and again some of our local athletes finished on the podium.

This year was the 1st of our 3 year sponsorship of R1, 2m of this auspicious event. This coming weekend again the NMBM will be hosting the Nedbank Runnified 50 km ultra-Marathon. This event will see the top international runner’s converging on the Bay and it is the first ever ultra-Marathon event that received Gold status from World athletics.

This month we at the end of the Valentines month and we should continue to spread the word of love and caring.

Adjustment Budget 2022/23

The tabling of the Adjusted Budget today, is a product of a collective effort by the GLU. It is done with the singular intent to strengthen its capacity to ensure ethical governance and deliver on its mandate to serve all the people in the NMB Metro. As we convene, we remain pragmatic of the current circumstances we are faced with as we continue the path of building and transforming local government in the NMB that will enable us to build a financially viable and equitable Metro, through a budget that will deliver effective and efficient services to all our communities.

With this budget we send a clear message to our communities we serve, that through the GLU, a prosperous and better NMBM is in the making and our people should continue to have confidence in the work of this Council.

Speaker, as we know, the City’s current Economic Recovery Framework will be revised and incorporated into the new Integrated Development Framework (IDP) which will be a 5 Year Strategic Plan for the current Coalition Government for the period 2022/23 to 2026/7.

Further detailed announcements will be made in respect of the above.

Speaker, fellow Councilors, ladies and gentlemen:

Yesterday, 27 February 2022 we were commemorating the 44th anniversary since the untimely passing of the founder of the Pan Africanist Congress, utata uRobert Mangaliso Sobukwe in 1978 who was fondly known as Prof. because of his teachings.

We will always remember him for teaching us that ‘there is only one race, the human race’.

This year, our Province is commemorating a centenary since the passing of Reverend John Knox Bokwe. He was a renowned prolific writer who contributed immensely to Xhosa religious music. We will work with his family and the John Knox Foundation to remember him through various programmes. His life story is an inspiration and an important part of our heritage.

As we gathered here today, I cannot fail to mention the challenges that continue to occupy my mind.

First, the severe drought and water crisis in our metro continue to occupy my mind. Since November 2015 the Metro has been experiencing a dry period of below average monthly rainfall, resulting in declining dam levels and water storage capacities. The recent rainfall created a false sense of security as certain catchment areas did not receive significant rainfall. Since then the, the average levels have continued to drop at a consistent rate, currently at 17, 17% as of 24 February 2022.

The dam levels being very low as a result of drought and is contributing to water shortage, water quality deterioration as a result of intermittent supply and operational risks. Over the past weeks, there have been water quality failures reported mostly in relation to colour and turbidity. This then escalated when bacteriological failures were identified on some samples in the week of 14 -19 February 2022. An analysis of the cause was undertaken by trouble-shooting the metro distribution system and the source of the problem was identified as the Grassridge treatment works. The metro confirms that the water quality failure was due to operations at the Grassridge reservoir temporary water treatment works and as from the 21st of February 2022 the municipality has been hard at work to ensure that the good quality of water is restored. Various interventions including sampling and monitoring were performed and on Saturday 26 February, all the 38 sampling points that previously failed were declared compliant.

This means that the water is safe to drink.

The metro will invest a lot of effort and resources in monitoring mechanisms to ensure that water to the consumer is always safe.

Secondly, our people continue to face the challenge of uncollected refuse due to a limited number of refuse removal trucks that are in good condition. Over the past few weeks, we have had major challenges with regard to our solid waste management services. The Arlington Waste disposal site was illegally closed by residents from the nearby Walmer Township- under the guise of being SMME’s. This illegal closure had a very negative impact on not only residents, but had an economic impact for local businesses as well. It further posed a risk that could have resulted in the site being given an unnecessary attention by the Department of Fisheries and Forestry.

Through numerous engagements led by the MMC for Public Health, Councilor Buyeye, this situation was brought under control- albeit after 8 days. The administration is working around the clock to find a lasting solution. Refuse removal took a knock due to breakdowns of our vehicles-at unprecedented proportions.

This has brought to the fore that our aging fleet has now caught up with us. It now requires that we seriously consider a massive capital injection to re-capitalise our own refuse removal fleet.

As an interim measure, we have acquired services of several service providers as part of our hybrid system – a combination of rendering services using our own fleet and also using external service providers. We are making gradual improvements on our ability to render refuse removal services, and our communities should also work with us, and exercise patience as we get our fleet back into our primary mandate-the mandate of delivery of services.

There is still a long way to go. We call upon our communities to be on the look–out for our communications regarding delays in refuse removal. We do this on a regular basis.

Speaker, fellow Councilors, ladies and gentlemen:

We continue to create opportunities aimed at alleviating the plight of our people and putting bread on the table. In this respect, we had already created 608 job opportunities between November 2021 and January 2022, when we assumed Office.

This number includes 212 Water Ambassadors, 102 ATTP (Assistance To The Poor) Plumbers , 97 Peace Officers and 197 EPWP participants employed across different programmes

We area City at work. We recognise the urgent task of continuing with efforts aimed at creating an enabling environment for private investments to thrive.

In this regard, we acknowledge the crucial role the private sector plays in job creation.

We are doing this through promoting measures aimed at enhancing the ease of doing business. To achieve this we prioritise the processing of applications for construction permits, property registration, electricity connections and land use applications for businesses. The Municipality is in the process of setting up a one-stop shop to improve the ease of doing business in the City.

We drive investment Incentives. In this regard, the Municipality has made R2.5 million available in the form of incentives to new investors and current investors looking to expand operation in the City, resulting in a total investment of R567million to the City and creating a total of 417 permanent jobs. A further 302 jobs are expected to be created from two more applications recently processed.

As part of these incentives, the Municipality has also established the Trade and Investment Forum made up of the Business Chamber, Industry and SOEs located in the City. The Council is collaborating with the business, we are supporting their industrial clusters that are aimed at reviving industrial areas like Deal Party, Perseverance and Struandale. The NMBM is strengthening its relations with local Business Chambers to ensure a conducive environment for investment.

As part of attracting new investments, work is underway to establish the Investment Council. This is a Strategic Forum Chaired by the Executive Mayor and driven by the MMC of Economic Development).

In this regard, R4.5 million was allocated towards the formalization of various Informal Trading Areas that the City has designated and serviced to ensure a conducive trading environment for informal traders.

Furthermore, 42 Informal Traders have already benefited from this initiative and a contractor has already been appointed to deliver the relevant facilities (containers).

Speaker, the Coega IDs is seized with two more projects that will contribute a combined 824 new operational jobs to the economy. One of these investors is Seraphim Solar Cell manufacturing company that is investing R362 million into our province to increase the local content of its solar value chain.

The second investor is African Port Logistics and infrastructure, that is investing R300 million in the agro processing value chain. These are real investments that will benefit the people of our province.

Speaker, Transnet has appointed Coega as the implementing agent for the R3,4 billion new Ngqura Manganese Export Terminal.

Within a day or two we will mark the significant milestone of 100 days in office as the Coalition Government. We will, in the course of the next few weeks be providing a comprehensive report of our collective service delivery achievements as well as interventions aimed at dealing with the challenges that we have encountered.

In conclusion: The process of the filling of the City manager’s post is almost complete, the candidates are undergoing the competency assessments. Through the Office of the Speaker, I will be requesting for a Special Council to be convened for 10th March 2022 for Council to consider a report for the filling of the City Manager’s position.

I wish to remind all our residents to use water sparingly. We continue to face severe challenges of water scarcity. So serious is our situation that we are now Restriction No. 10.

We have started to implement measures aimed at avoiding the worsening of the current situation. In this regard, a mechanism aimed at tracking high users of water is in place. This will enable the imposition of the necessary restrictions to curtail the high usage.

Thank you…

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.