With businesses closing and unemployment rising, unlocking the potential of the six industrial nodes will be critical in turning the city around.
This is according to DA mayoral candidate Retief Odendaal.
He said restoration of the areas would send a clear message to investors, both local and international, that the city was open for business.
The focus of the North End, Kariega business district and the Struandale, Deal Party, Perseverance and Markman industrial zones is part of Odendaal’s “60 Weeks, 60 Ways to Get NMB Working Again” campaign as parties gear up for the 2026 local government elections.
Speaking at Markman on Wednesday, Odendaal said their programme would be to ensure the municipality focused on road, electrical, stormwater and sanitation infrastructure maintenance and repairs.
He was joined by the party’s caucus spokesperson, Siyasanga Sijadu, and PR councillor Masixole Zinto.
“We have an unemployment rate that has escalated at the expanded rate of about 35% and our youth unemployment rate is now closing in on 50%,” Odendaal said.
“So our biggest challenge in Nelson Mandela Bay is growing the economy and creating jobs.
“You look at Markman, one of our industrial areas, with some of the most valuable land in the city.
“I spoke to a [businessman] I know who’s got several properties in Perseverance, and he is disinvesting from there because he’s got no faith in the ability of the municipality to be able to deliver services.
“And that has been happening not just in Perseverance, an area which, for example, contributes 5% of the total rates in Nelson Mandela Bay.
“If we are going to be serious about job creation and growing the economy, we must invest in our infrastructure.
“But secondly, it ensures that businesses think that we can deliver sustainable water and electricity and road infrastructure, so that they would want to invest here.”
To do this, Odendaal said the municipality must ring-fence capital funding for preventative maintenance.
“Deal Party receives its electricity from a substation that trips regularly.
“Every time it trips, everyone with a smelter has to throw away everything that’s in their moulds and in their machines straight away.
“It leads to millions of rand of losses every month, if not every week.”
To support the municipal investment, he said the municipality would have to ensure by-law enforcement.
“And therefore we’ve said that under a DA government, we will also make available dedicated rangers for each of these six industrial zones to ensure that we get residents and business owners to adhere to our by-laws,” Odendaal said.
“We need by-law enforcement. We know the manganese businesses in this community have created absolute havoc here.”
Illegal manganese handlers have long been blamed for the deterioration of the area and for placing pressure on public infrastructure, such as roads and stormwater systems.
“That is not fair. It is not constitutional,” he said.
“We have a duty to ensure that nobody’s business dealings impact negatively on an adjacent business or resident.”
With the scourge of kidnappings on the rise alongside killings, which have consistently caused the city to be ranked as one of the most dangerous in the world, Odendaal said security was also paramount.
He said the city had to move more speedily in rolling out CCTV.
“There is a plague at the moment and it is this crime wave that has come over Nelson Mandela Bay, especially with regards to hijacking of vehicles and transporting goods, but also the safety of senior personnel in businesses.
“Nobody is going to invest in their business or bring in business from elsewhere in the country to invest here if they can’t keep their CEO, plant manager or senior managers safe.
“We, as a metro, would also roll out CCTV cameras to these business precincts, which can be linked to our currently unmanned control centre.
“It’s something which the city has unfortunately neglected over the last couple of years.
“We’ve seen how even the last project that was on the cards for the expansion of a CCTV camera operation, even that money wasn’t spent in the last financial year.
“I want us to start thinking of where we want this city to be in 20 years from now.
“I’ve got a vision for the city. The DA has a vision for the city.
“We unpacked it last month, and we have the ability here to create a city that can attract investment.”
The Herald
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