It was a mixed bag of old and new faces when Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Nqaba Bhanga announced his executive committee this week..
Though proceedings got off to a rocky start, councillors from the DA, ACDP, COPE, UDM and UF have vowed to keep the lights on, work on the city’s ageing infrastructure and boost investor confidence so that much-needed jobs can be created.
Siyasanga Sijadu, 29
Party: COPE
Portfolio: Economic development, tourism and agriculture
Sijadu, who until two years ago served as MMC of sports, recreation, arts and culture, says she hopes to revitalise and grow the tourism industry as well as the township economy.
“Covid-19 has seen a total collapse of small businesses, particularly in the tourism industry. I hope to be able to assist small businesses.
“The most difficult part of this portfolio now during this pandemic is bringing and building back. It can’t be easy being a small business and finding yourself with nothing. Starting and maintaining a business is tough, it is a painstaking process for any entrepreneur. To then find yourself losing everything is debilitating. I pray to bring renewed hope and faith.
“I believe I can accelerate the implementation of the economic recovery plan. This is critical if we want to see a difference in the few months left. I hope to also bring in fresh ideas to this directorate.
“I would love to fulfil the dream we had in 2016, to make this city a destination of choice, a city that will be recognised not only for its name, but for quality and exceptional experience,” Sijadu said.
Malcolm Figg, 62
Party: DA
Portfolio: Budget and treasury
Figg said the key things to tackle were the metro’s ward-based budgets. He said insufficient funds were allocated for projects in wards.
“Ratepayers are being short-changed and I want to ensure that serious attention is given to their priorities and requests as per the integrated development plans (IDPs).
“I want to eliminate fruitless, wasteful and irregular expenditure as residents are deprived of service delivery due to this unacceptable spending of funds.
“Capital expenditure must be monitored and increased. At the end of the first quarter it was at a mere 4.16% whereas it should have been 25%. This results in projects being delayed and service delivery deficiencies.
“I also want to attend to the audit outcomes. These are concerns raised by the auditor-general,” he said.
Figg said balancing the books would be the most difficult aspect.
“The devastating effects caused by the Covid-19 pandemic have not yet been seen in their entirety. This will only come to light in the coming months. So debtors are expected to increase at a rate as never before seen. Although this will be difficult to manage, bad debts will have to be kept to a minimum,” he said.
Name: Lance Grootboom, 38.
Party: ACDP
Portfolio: Public health
Enforcing Covid-19 regulations in the metro is Grootboom’s biggest priority in his new position. He previously held this position from 2016 until 2018 when the DA-led coalition was ousted.
Another priority is getting the city’s drinking water quality in line with the national standards for drinking water.
“First, we must get the city clean by clearing illegal dumping of waste and building rubble.
“Second, is getting these areas to remain clean. Here we are looking at a changing of the mindsets of our communities.
“Third is to break the silo mentalities within directorates that need each other by create synergy among them,” he said.
“This directorate has a vital role to play in the wellbeing of the residents and, if operating at maximum efficiency, it is a directorate which can restore pride in the city and dignity for its people.
“My vision for this directorate is for it to be the standard-bearer for matters of waste and environmental management and the yardstick which other municipalities measure themselves against for parks, cemeteries and health services,” Grootboom said.
Masixole Zinto, 44.
Party: DA
Portfolio: Infrastructure (water)
With the city’s dam levels sitting at a combined 21.5% as of December 18, the new infrastructure MMC has a lot on his plate, from reducing water leaks to somehow ensuring water is not wasted this festive season.
“Security of water is key. From there we fix water leaks because this is a major problem for us as a city. We’ll augment our water supply by drilling boreholes and making use of our underground water while we wait for rain.
“Building small businesses, paying them on time so they can develop themselves and employ other people is also key,” he said.
Zinto said ageing infrastructure was another challenge for the city and a proper plan was needed.
“Whatever we talk to, needs to speak to the economic recovery plan of this city because no business will invest here if we cannot ensure our water and ensure uninterrupted supply.
“As a city we need to create a conducive environment so investors can come and put money here, so jobs can be created,” Zinto said.
Helga van Staaden, 46
Party: DA
Portfolio: Sports, recreation, arts and culture
Van Staaden was to form part of the new mayoral committee announced on Wednesday and before commenting too much, she said she wanted to get a thorough briefing from her executive director.
But, not oblivious to the concerns in her directorate, Van Staaden said the vandalism of sporting facilities was a major challenge, especially during the harsher lockdown period, which saw more than 350 facilities being wrecked.
“Srac is a vast directorate and we need to look at some of the constraints experienced by it. We have to ensure that we protect our assets properly because right now that’s not happening.
“We have to look at what the IDP says and concern ourselves with that and make sure that’s implemented.
“We need to make sure that all communities have sporting facilities and that they, along with sporting bodies, take ownership of these, which will also assist government,” Van Staaden said.
Mkhuseli Justice Mtsila, 44
Party: United Front
Portfolio: Human settlements
Mtsila was previously the budget and treasury political head. Since becoming the human settlements MMC, Mtsila has vowed to fight for the city to get the housing delivery function back.
“The housing delivery is our core mandate and the focus will be to reduce the housing backlog that is facing the metro. These can only happen when we return the housing delivery back to the metro. The housing function in the metro is currently outsourced to the HDA (Housing Development Agency), which is failing to deliver houses.
“The housing backlog and informal settlements are the challenges that are confronting the directorate.
“The only way to improve this is to improve our in-house capacity to build houses and reduce the backlog on a massive scale. But these cannot happen if the housing function is not residing in the department.
“Our greatest aspiration is make sure that there is spatial integration in the municipality. The spatial geography of the city reflects the previous colonial boundaries in the metro. Our people are marginalised from economic opportunities found in the city. You need a social housing policy that will fast-track that integration,” he said.
Annette Lovemore, 62
Party: DA
Portfolio: Corporate services
Lovemore said there were numerous challenges in her directorate and that it took more than a year to fill positions was a major one.
“There is also the often intransigent union stance that delays critical developments such as the finalisation of the overtime policy, the lack of succession planning, the exceptionally high absenteeism rate, the low level of morale and professionalism among far too many staff.
“The municipality is not an employer of choice. We need to fill critical vacancies including the executive director of corporate services, the city manager, the head of IT. We face serious institutional risks as a result of a poorly functioning IT section. For all of these positions, it is so important that we fill them timeously with wholly fit-for-purpose candidates.
“I intend to bring a commitment to excellence and to professionalism — the same commitment that I’d like to see spread throughout the institution. We must ensure that we have a committed, capable and well-supported workforce — an environment that will ultimately render us an employer of choice,” Lovemore said.
John Best, 63
Party: DA
Portfolio: Safety and security
Driver’s licence queues at the traffic department are high on the priority list for Best. Long lines have proven to be spreaders for Covid-19.
“I want to introduce the evidential alcohol centre and open up the Thusong driver’s testing centre in Motherwell as well.
“I want to fully integrate shot-spotter in Helenvale as well as increase law-enforcement on the roads through visible policing at crucial times and also work on the safety city concept to turn the metro into a safer and smart city,” he said.
Best said the safety and security directorate was very diverse and it dealt with the SA Police Service, fire and emergency as well as traffic, which had their own laws regulating them and a blanket approach would not work.
“Every directorate has at least 30%-40% vacancies and we’ve got an ageing workforce. More than 30% of our workforce in the traffic department as well as fire and emergency are above the age of 55,” Best said.
Luxolo Namette, 34
Party: UDM
Portfolio: Electricity and energy
Under his watch, Namette promises to keep the lights on for the safety of residents and motorists.
“The growing economy of the city demands that we explore different alternatives of electricity and energy for us to be trusted as an investment destination of choice. The renewable electricity options will also form part of my priorities.
“I’ll also look at intensifying the continuation of electrification of informal settlement to reduce illegal connection. I’ll also meet with the security directorate and relevant stakeholders regarding the vandalism of our infrastructure causing electricity disruption in the city.
“There are high electricity losses caused by illegal connections and tampering, and vandalism of our substations.
“I’ll ensure that the electricity and energy directorate has enough resources, staff, fleet and material to improve its responsiveness and turnaround time to service delivery issues as it is an essential service,” Namette said.
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