The African National Congress (ANC) in the Eastern Cape welcomes the newly elected Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality Troika (Executive Mayor, Deputy Executive Mayor, Speaker & Chief Whip) and wish them well in their new responsibilities.
We also want to applaud the appointment of new Mayoral Committee members whose composition comprised of youthful leadership and 50% women representation. The new administration must bring both political and administrative stability in the Metro as residents have been relegated to the side-lines whilst clueless political leaders of the DA Coalition were hopeless in addressing service delivery .The political bickering, power struggle and meddling in the administration of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality which has seriously compromised and failed citizens of this Metro must now be a thing of the past .
We want to state clearly that the African National Congress humbled itself when it lost elections on the 3rd August 2016 and accepted the fact that its an opposition party in Nelson Mandela Bay. We could not fold our arms when our own communities were crying loud on the repressive laws applied by the Coalition. The ANC supported the motion of no confidence to the Nelson Mandela Bay Council on the basis that of the following:
· The Metro has been on the least unequal parts of the country historically, but the levels of inequality have been growing at the fastest levels since the DA led Coalition took over on the 3 August 2016.
· The service delivery protests over the past two (2) years has shown the growing un-happiness over the DA policies and total neglect of the poor and working-class areas of our Metro.
· The DA led coalition has shown how they give white communities preference and privilege by for example, collects refuse/rubbish twice a week in the white leafy suburbs of the Metro whilst for the past three weeks refuse collection for the poor and working class communities of New Brighton,Walmer,Silvertown, Kuyga, Kwazakhele,Motherwell ,Veeplaas,Kwanobuhle,Langa, Helenvale, Gelvandale, Joe Slovo, Chatty,Khayelitsha,Acardia has been non exist.
· Piles of rubbish can be seen torn apart in the streets of our townships whilst refuse collection is even picked up in the middle of the night at Summerstrand,? Lorraine, Kabeka Park and all privileged areas of the Metro under security watch. People of Nelson Mandela Bay are saying enough is enough to the DA led coalition that is rallying a range of minority parties and constituencies (like an apartheid tricameral system) against the working class and the poor.
· The working class and the poor in the Nelson Mandela Bay had lost hope and confidence in leadership of Athol Trollip and the Democratic Alliance led coalition.
· The reality is that thousands of poor people in the Nelson Mandela Bay who are mainly Coloured, and Africans are facing electricity cuts and are forced to pay R340 reconnection fees; living in shacks and in backyard.
· People of Nelson Mandela Bay have realized that the DA Led coalition represents a fundamentally schizophrenic project, a liberal party of privilege using strata of the working class against itself.
· Policy posture of this administration is against the poor communities in the metro: The Assistance to the Poor Program (ATTP) has been amended without proper consultation and public participation which is a legislated requirement. Our people are charged exorbitant reconnection fees and made consumers without considering their indigence status. The comfort of the current energy users represented by Big Capital under this administration is a clear political and ideological matter as the poor got electricity cuts whilst the rich get preference.
· Budget allocation is biased to the historical advantaged areas: The spatial divide of apartheid is being maintained by the DA, with no integration of historically disadvantaged communities on racial lines. Millions of Rands pumped in areas such as Ward 2 in Summerstrand and Ward 5 in Richmond Hill, Westbourne and Milpark affirms the apartheid generational advantage of the white communities, at the cost of the black communities living at Kwazakhele , Soweto and Helenvale. The claim that the 2018/2019 budget for Nelson Mandela Bay is pro poor is untrue and hogwash. Fact of the matter is that key infrastructure with huge budgetary provisions have been allocated to affluent areas.
· Land and property evictions right across the metro: Forced removals are back affecting the poor communities and we have witnessed these callous acts in Motherwell and Wells Estate. The DA refuses to use public land in historical white areas for low cost housing, pandering to the white electorate in those areas to keep the poor out.
The continued claims and of course supported by some sections of the media that Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality had delivered to the poor is political gimmick. The ousted Coalition have continued their lies saying people of the Nelson Mandela Bay must expect to live in dignity but failing to tell the residents that they have failed our people. They have repeated these lies by projecting themselves as inherited a bankrupt and dysfunctional municipality after the 3rd August 2016.
We want to remind the failed and ousted Coalition that NMB had R2 Billion Rands cash reserves when they took office after the 2016 local government elections. Nelson Mandela Bay had then escaped a gloomy economic outlook with a positive rating jump that made the city more attractive to investors and lenders – a move that led to effectively give a boost to service delivery plans. The city’s stabilized financial standing and prudence saw it move up three notches on the national ratings scale, from an upper medium-grade rating (A1.za) to a high-quality one with low credit risk (Aa1.za). Internationally, the Bay stood at Baa2 – medium grade, with moderate credit risk – which the ratings agency attributed to the city’s solid financial performance and declining debt levels. In its report, Moody’s said: “Continued fiscal consolidation has led to a continuously robust financial performance and a comfortable liquidity position. The improved rating saw the city become more credit-worthy, affording to borrow larger sums of money for less, and effectively lightening the financial load of ratepayers. At that time the metro has over] a period of a year managed its finances in a prudent and sustainable way, [reignited] confidence and [mobilized] the resources of all of our social partners.
We led to the injection of investments with the following companies:
· Logistics Park – investment of R327 million with 751 jobs created.)
· Beijing Automobile International Corporation (BAIC) injecting a R11 billion vehicle manufacturing plant that have created 2500 direct jobs.
· Clover invested R100 million and 100 jobs created
· Discovery invested R20 million and 500 jobs created
· Mutual Financial Analysts invested R11 million and created 300 jobs
· Aspen Expansion invested R1,8 billion and created 400 jobs
· PRASA invested R1,4 billion
· VWSA invested R4,5 billion
· Transnet invested R8,5 and additional R700 million was invested
4000 serviced sites were provided in early 2016 and 3000 houses were built in areas such Joe Slovo, Area 9& 10 in Kwanobuhle, Chatty, NU 29 in Motherwell, Walmer Township and Missionvale . 3000 homes were provided with electricity connections just in 2016 before local government elections. The Nooitgedacht Low -level water supply scheme was heavily funded, and Phase was completed. The Fishwater Flats Waste Treatment plant was massively extended.
A study by the Nelson Mandela University released in November 2015 revealed that more than 80 % of residents of the Nelson Mandela Bay had confidence in the future of our city. They admitted that the fiscal discipline applied by the ANC political leadership brought administrative stability in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality which has been coupled with financial prudent measures. These are facts which cannot be disputed.
We want to thank all political parties who set aside their differences including Councillor Manyathi and voted with their conscience in support of the motion. This had nothing to do with politics, but ensuring that the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality continues on its constitutional mandate of delivering services to its citizens while also protecting workers’ rights which have effectively evaporated under the tyrant rule of Trollip and his administration.
The ANC is of the view that the municipality deserves a responsible, transparent, honest and accountable political leadership that puts the interests of the community of Nelson Mandela Bay first and not narrow selfish interests.
We trust that all the appointed Mayoral Committee members will execute their constitutional and legal obligations seriously, ensure that service delivery to our people and be a responsive and caring leadership.
Issued by:
ANC EC Communications
Enquiries:
ANC EC Media & Liaison Officer
Judy Mpetsheni
Mobile No: 0731176194/ 0636878267
ANC EC Communications Manager
Gift Ngqondi
Mobile No:0849519924/0848439706