IN MY VIEW | Have you actually used your office in Kariega, mayor Lobishe?

Mayor Babalwa Lobishe, I don’t know if you are aware, but there are actually wards in Nelson Mandela Bay on the other side of the Chatty River.

You also happen to have an office in Kariega, which by the looks of it, you have never used.

If you did utilise your Kariega office, you would no doubt have known that the repair work for the June 1 2024 Kariega floods is yet to be completed.

You would also have known that the respective depots in Kariega are severely understaffed and under-budgeted.

You would have known that Kariega has been plagued by water and electricity outages for the last two weeks.

Water and electricity outages are not isolated occurrences for Kariega, but these are now sadly far worse than usual.

Yes, perhaps you do not know.

I want to at least believe that if you knew, you would have intervened.

You would have sent in more resources.

You would have personally checked and communicated on the water and electricity outages.

You would have personally tried to solicit some solutions from your staff.

Let us not beat around the bush.

Kariega, KwaNobuhle, Rosedale, Gamble, Kabah and other surrounding areas are an absolute mess as a direct result of your uncaring and dysfunctional government.

Infrastructure is collapsing, basic service delivery complaints are not being attended to and communities are sitting in the dark every night.

The response time for query resolution in Kariega is far longer than anywhere else in the metro.

How is that fair on local residents who should be every bit as important to you as those living elsewhere?

Kariega is one of our city’s most important industrial zones, but you are allowing it to become an embarrassment as infrastructure is becoming less and less reliable.

No business will continue to invest in a city with collapsing infrastructure and unreliable services.

Do you want to wait until more factories close their doors before your administration takes note?

Kariega is in crisis mode and we must do something before large-scale disinvestment by business and residents follows.

The DA has long ago mooted the establishment of a sub-council for Kariega and surrounding areas.

While the ANC does not support the sub-council model, you have failed to come up with an alternative that can make a meaningful difference in this community that feels increasingly marginalised.

What we need to resolve the immediate water and electricity crises in Kariega is more human resources diverted from the Gqeberha depots to Kariega.

The Kariega depots are empty, and staff are also running on empty.

Once the immediate crisis is resolved, we need this council to get its act together and at least try to rebuild institutional capacity in Kariega.

To ensure that we rebuild our institutional capacity and deliver better service delivery in Kariega, the Nelson Mandela Bay council must:

1. Allocate more funding for routine maintenance and repairs of infrastructure.

2. Ensure that depots have the necessary human and financial resources to do the work.

3. Streamline the processes to ensure operational assistance to Kariega depots when they need it.

4. Allocate sufficient funding to upgrade the ailing and ageing electricity grid and substations.

5. Allocate sufficient funding to upgrade Kariega’s water treatment plants, reticulation network and reservoirs.

If we want to make progress as a city, we need to build an inclusive metro.

Right now, the people of Kariega and surrounding areas feel as if they are no longer a priority.

They feel abandoned by an administration that is out of touch, led by people that do not care about the plight of residents.

The DA’s ward councillors in Kariega are fighting for the residents under the very difficult circumstances created by you and your government’s inability to deliver services and maintain and upgrade crucial infrastructure.

To ensure that their ward councillors can serve them without any obstacles, the residents will punish you and the ANC at the ballot box.

The DA will rebuild Kariega and get the entire Nelson Mandela Bay working again.

I would have said that I herewith serve you with notice to vacate Kariega Town Hall by November 4, but clearly you have done so already.

Retief Odendaal, DA MPL