Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane took a hardline stance on the service delivery chaos in Nelson Mandela Bay on Tuesday as he fielded a barrage of media questions.
“This city has been dysfunctional since 2016 when coalition politics were introduced here,” he said.
“This issue of [political] trade-offs to the detriment of people’s lives is a problem.
“We have not been moving or growing the city’s focus on service delivery work.”
Mabuyane was speaking at the Sanral southern region offices, where he was accompanied by transport minister Barbara Creecy and deputy minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa.
They were on an oversight visit of the new Sanral intelligent transport system centre and the technical excellence academy at the building.
Water shortages, power cuts, sewage spills and crumbling roads are now part of daily life in the city.
Residents are forced to queue for water from tankers, dodge gaping potholes and live with the stench of untreated sewage flowing past their homes.
In the city, leaks go unfixed for weeks and vandalised street lights are not repaired — sometimes for years.
Criminals strip copper cables and vandalise substations with impunity.
Traffic lights do not work, refuse collection is erratic and law enforcement is overwhelmed.
“We want to see a city that is functioning professionally, businesses thriving and no dispensing of patronage which for too long caused the chaos we have seen,” Mabuyane said.
“The problem of gangs we see all over the city is because of this patronage.
“Before that, we never had a problem of a proliferation of guns.”
A team from the Eastern Cape co-operative governance department was deployed to Nelson Mandela Bay to bring administrative stability and improve service delivery earlier in April.
Ted Pillay was appointed acting city manager and Lonwabo Ngoqo was appointed acting chief operating officer.
With support being offered, Mabuyane said there were key deliveries the province wanted to see.
“The grant spending must significantly improve, which is a concern.
“Houses have to be built, and the street lights have to come on as soon as possible,” he said.
The Herald
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