EXECUTIVE MAYOR'S ADDRESS AT COUNCIL MEETING – 26 August 2015

Speaker of Council,

Deputy Executive Mayor,

Mayoral Committee Members,

Councillors,

Officials,

Representatives from the media,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning. Goeiemôre. Molweni.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the UDM its new Councillor, Mr Mandla Valtein for winning the by-election at Ward 30.

I hope all the women Councillors and indeed all the women of South Africa are having a Happy Women’s Month. As we conclude the month, I hope we will all continue to honour women and rededicate ourselves to improve their quality of life at home, work, in sport, business and all other aspects of their lives. Let every day be women’s day.

We are working with the Community Policing Forum, the South African Police Services and various community based organizations to help shape the “Take back our City” campaign. This campaign demonstrates that the people of this metro would like to be part of the solution. In fact to make this city work, we need to work closer together and unite across class divisions and racial lines. Crime cannot be allowed to continue as if those of us tasked with the responsibility to lead do not care about the well-being and circumstances of our people and their daily struggles. It cannot be allowed to continue.

Fellow Councillors, we have also observed with concern that there have been a number of protests in the Metro. We want to appeal to our Administration to accelerate the implementation of service delivery programs and always be responsive to the needs of our communities.

Since our last council meeting we suffered the pain of Marvin Van Der Merwe being stabbed to death in Ext 22 in the Chatty / Bloemendal area and Asadullah Ajimudin who was bludgeoned to death with a cricket bat. John Donne in "For whom the bell tolls" reminds us that:

"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."

We want to extend our sincere condolences to all the families who have lost their loved ones and hope that the Police apprehend the perpetrators of crimes.

The “Take back our City” campaign, however, must go beyond the realm of a crime prevention strategy as it has the potential to represent our steadfast goal to regain ground lost due to crime, corruption, inefficiency and a lack of transparency that caused a wedge between this local government institution and its citizens.

Speaker, if we would like to turn the tide, we have to tap into the energy of those who are excited to make our city work. I am reminded of the energy and vibrancy of the Women’s Day activities in Uitenhage . A vibrancy that encourages us to be mindful of the trials and tribulations of our past and the tenacity and sacrifice it took to reach this point and time. Our national pride days must inspire all of us tasked with the responsibility to lead the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality out of the disregard for the name it carries and the residents we serve.

Madame Speaker, as you know we had a major focus on economic development over the last couple of weeks, which included a planning workshop that was recently held at Bay West. The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber, as well as, Nafcoc presented its Vision 2030 and inputs were made by other stakeholders regarding potential development and the economic potential of our city. It is clear that there are many visionary people in our city who would like to share their views and ideas with us on how best to take Nelson Mandela Bay forward.

Yesterday we had another engagement with Transnet regarding their capital investment projects which include the decommissioning of the existing of the existing Manganese Terminal and construction of a new one in Coega, the Tank Farm, the Nelson Mandela Statue, the waterfront development in the Port Elizabeth Harbour and the continued development of Coega remain high on our developmental agenda.

On the 18th September 2015 we will be convening a workshop with the State Owned Enterprises and City leaders to discuss investment plans for the city and how both to align and speed up projects.

Very soon we will commence with the IDP public participation processes. This process must be inclusive to allow for residents to continuously engage with us. Once again, we will need the administration to respond diligently to the issues that will be raised by communities at these sessions.

Fellow Councillors when we say all hands on deck to make a better tomorrow possible, people from our different constituencies. Will gather at the the Dan Qeqe Stadium where President Jacob Zuma will be launching the War on Leaks campaign this Friday. I have said before that the launch of this campaign and the subsequent employment of people and the implementation of programmes must lead to a marked decline in the water losses that we experience in Nelson Mandela Bay. We cannot be a water scarce region with multi-million rand plans to pump more water into the city whilst we do not protect the resources in our pipelines.

Councillors from all political parties are therefore requested to attend the event and to make sure that they actively work towards making the launch and ensure the success of the War on Water Leaks.

Ladies and gentlemen, when we say let us "Take back our City", we need to reflect on dealing with corruption decisively. The Kabuso and Pikoli reports spearheaded by the ANC-governed municipality, indicated areas that required detailed investigation and led to us establishing a forensic investigation into the Integrated Public Transport System.

Without going into specific details I can confirm that a very detailed study into the IPTS took place that took time partly due to the number of documents and transactions that needed to be reviewed.

When I previously said that swift action will be taken, I meant it. Disciplinary action against some of the individuals identified during the investigation, have already been initiated. We are working closely with the Hawks and other law enforcement agencies.

Speaker it is therefore clear that we continue to cut deep and act decisively. Action is taken and we once again call on the public and municipal officials to come forward and assist in this process.

Our clean-up operation is at a very sensitive stage and I therefore would like to request all councillors and officials who are privileged to information not to divulge it as we do not want the reliability of our action to be compromised. In the same vain, when we have our council meeting in-camera to tomorrow; I appeal to all of you to assist, by not divulging information shared during confidential sessions.

The 2015 Mayoral Cup was launched with football, netball, rugby and boxing matches taking place across the city. Please support the teams especially if matches are played in your respective wards, the youth must receive support to develop their talent and the best they can be in the sport of their choice .

As you know, I have visited Old age homes in Zwide and in the Northern Areas to get a first hand account of their circumstances. We have prepared a submission for consideration by the next Council meeting. We will announce the details later.

Allow me to deal with joys and pains.

The pain of the family who lost seven members in a back yard shack fire last week, saw joy as we could provide them with furniture for their brand new house yesterday. The pain of a family who livedin a caravan for 25 years turned to joy as they moved into new shelter in Searle Road in Schauderville yesterday.

I am reminded of the words of former President Thabo Mbeki during the 2008 State of the Nation Address.

“With all hands on deck, and committed to conduct our business in an unusual and more effective fashion, we shall sustain the process of our reconstruction and development and take it to even higher levels.”

I thank you.

D. A. Jordaan

Executive Mayor