Listen to these titans of industry — before it is too late

When the boss of Isuzu Motors SA has to get his workers to connect electricity to traffic lights to keep a major intersection safe, you know a city is failing in its most basic responsibilities.

Billy Tom, who also leads the Automotive Business Council, told delegates at SA Auto Week that Nelson Mandela Bay’s crumbling municipal services were driving up costs, slowing down production and putting thousands of jobs at risk.

Ford Motor Company Africa president Neale Hill echoed the concern.

In a nutshell, they said if SA could not provide reliable water, electricity, roads and ports, the world’s automakers would invest elsewhere.

This is not alarmist talk.

It is a lived reality for every resident, business and one of the Eastern Cape’s biggest industries — an industry that has built plants and created tens of thousands of jobs across the value chain.

Yet, instead of local authorities providing the basics, companies face power cuts, intersections with no traffic lights, an erratic water supply and ports ranked among the worst in the world.

The Bay’s political and administrative leadership cannot say they have not been warned. The problems are right there in the streets.

The business sector established forums, pleaded for action and even stepped in to do the municipality’s work when safety and operations were at stake.

But business should not have to be the government’s handyman.

Mayor Babalwa Lobishe has promised renewed engagements and says the city meets major manufacturers monthly.

However, promises and meetings are not enough. What investors, workers and residents need to see is a working city.

The industry is not asking for handouts. It is asking for reliable basic services — the very things a municipality is meant to provide. 

When residents complain, it falls on deaf ears. Let’s hope the municipality takes the complaints from these titans of industry seriously.

The Herald