An energy crisis, vandalism, ageing infrastructure and comically dubbed “collision governments” are among the biggest challenges Nelson Mandela Bay faces as it works towards sustainable business development.
But all of these issues can be dealt with effectively only if organised business bands together in a united and focused effort to overcome obstacles and facilitate economic growth.
This was the message shared with members of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber at its AGM, held at the Southern Sun Marine Hotel in Summerstrand on Wednesday night.
Just days after a new mayor was elected, business chamber president Loyiso Dotwana touched on the after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact of the metro’s ongoing political instability, and how the revolving door of city managers and political leadership has hampered the administration of the city and the delivery of basic services.
“We face an economic survival crisis which requires all of us to pull together for the greater good of our local economy and jobs,” he said.
“This is not a time for political or personal agendas to determine the way forward.
“Rather we should focus on being transparent about what the issues are and how can we solve them as a united front.”
Dotwana said the municipality had suffered electricity losses of more than R700m in the previous financial year, and was on track to lose even more this year, while the city had lost 145 business days due to rolling blackouts.
“Our view is that what we invest in at our own cost must benefit Nelson Mandela Bay as a whole, and as we bring more power onto the grid, this should directly reduce levels of load-shedding for our entire metro.”
Dotwana said ageing and poorly maintained infrastructure was contributing to the city’s water and sanitation problems, while vandalism was out of control and causing further damage to key infrastructure across the metro.
In all these areas, Dotwana believes business has a role to play and is willing to contribute for the benefit of the city and its people.
The guest speaker, transport economist and Automotive Business Council (formerly Naamsa) CEO Mikel Mabasa, spoke about the growth opportunities in the sector and the key role played by the Eastern Cape and Nelson Mandela Bay.
Of the 350,945 vehicles exported from SA in 2022, the Eastern Cape, through its manufacturing plants in the Bay and East London, contributed 44.6%, cementing the province’s place as the country’s automotive hub.
In addition, 53.5% of those exports left SA through Eastern Cape ports.
Mabasa said the council was happy to welcome the Bay business chamber to its long list of partners and looked to strengthen its ties with the local manufacturing industry, as well as the sectors that run parallel with automotive, such as financial business and fuel production.
He said SA was falling behind the rest of the world in the shift to New Energy Vehicles (NEVs), and that this direction of automotive development had the most potential for growth and expansion, considering that it had shown 400% growth globally between 2021 and 2022.
During the AGM it was also announced that several members of the business chamber’s board had stepped down, either due to retirement, relocation or to focus more on their personal business endeavours.
Therefore, six new members had to be elected.
Chair and MD of Volkswagen SA, Martina Biene, MD of SPAR Eastern Cape, Siyolo Dick, MD of Auto-X, Kelvin Naidoo, head of operations at Aspen Pharmacare in the Bay, Christiaan Theron, vice-president of strategy, business planning and marketing for Isuzu Motors SA, Celestin Ndhlovu, and head of Private Client (SA), a division of Investec, Cumesh Moodliar, have joined the chamber’s board.
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