To the executive mayor, city manager and municipal leadership.
The people of Nelson Mandela Bay have reached a breaking point.
For months, residents across our city have endured repeated water outages, low water pressure, deteriorating infrastructure and inconsistent communication.
Families have had to queue at water tankers, businesses have suffered losses and parents have struggled to meet the basic needs of their children.
These are not isolated incidents.
They are symptoms of a municipality that is failing in its most fundamental responsibility to deliver basic services.
While officials often point to ageing infrastructure, vandalism, power failures and technical challenges, residents rightly ask why these problems continue to escalate without lasting solutions.
Preventative maintenance has been neglected, leaks remain unattended for far too long, and critical infrastructure is too often left vulnerable until it fails.
Residents are not asking for miracles.
They are asking for competent governance, honest communication, proper planning and accountability.
Every household pays the price when water does not flow, when roads deteriorate, when refuse is not collected efficiently and when public confidence in local government continues to decline.
Our municipality must move beyond crisis management and commit to rebuilding essential infrastructure, strengthening maintenance programmes, improving communication with the public and ensuring that every official entrusted with public resources is held accountable for their performance.
Nelson Mandela Bay deserves better.
Our residents are resilient, but resilience should never be mistaken for acceptance.
They deserve reliable services, transparent leadership and a municipality that works for the people it serves.
The time for excuses has passed.
The time for decisive action is now.
Councillor Vernon Boggenpoel, Ward 12 councillor, DA
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