Trollip welcomed at successful final IDP meeting in Missionvale
Image: Fredlin Adriaan
The last public meeting of the series hosted by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality went off without a hitch in Missionvale last night.
Housing, sports facilities and jobs for the youth were major talking points at the draft budget and Integrated Development Plan public participation meeting at the Govan Mbeki multipurpose centre.
While there was a heavy police presence, the meeting went ahead without any hitches.
Instead, one resident who tried to instigate strife along racial lines was booed.
Hundreds of residents turned out for the meeting.
They said they were happy to see mayor Athol Trollip.
An elderly woman, who did not identify herself, said the city should prioritise their need for housing rather than streetlights.
“I can see that there is money set aside for rectification of houses but this budget is very vague,” she said.
“It is unclear where different categories of houses will fall in terms of rectification.
“I can also see there is a budget for lights – but we don’t live in lights, we live in houses.”
Mzwandile Sidina, 42 of Govan Mbeki, urged Trollip to do something on the issue of land invasions.
“We have people occupying open spaces because they are frustrated as they have been living in a shack for more than 20 years,” Sidina said.
“We are not condoning land invasions but something needs to be done.”
Sidina further highlighted youth unemployment, crime and the need for sports facilities in the area.
“This area [Govan Mbeki] is listed as No 1 in the province when it comes to crime, and we thought sports would be a good way to lure young people away from crime but our sports fields are in a bad shape,” Sidina said.
IDP meetings over the past three weeks were often disrupted.
Yesterday Trollip thanked the residents for allowing the meeting to go ahead as planned.
While unpacking many issues, including the unemployment graduate programme run by his office, Trollip said there was not enough resources to attend to all of the residents’ needs.
“Houses are important. People need houses and that is why we are trying to get back the mandate to build houses as the city, otherwise we will never catch up with the backlog.”
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