ANC’s turned Bay around

DOOMSAYERS and some opinion makers have on many occasions written obituaries on the governance of the ANC in the Nelson Mandela Bay, but deliberately ignored achievements of this ANC-led municipality.

Our NMBM has acknowledged that many challenges remain in the restoration of the dignity of our people, and redressing the imbalances and injustices of the past, but reconfirms its commitment and resolve to secure a better life of all the residents of the Bay.

Even our fiercest critics admit grudgingly that the ANC has done a great job in changing the negative perception that has characterised our municipality for so long. Although we have witnessed service delivery protests, this ANC-led municipality has delivered services to our communities and figures don’t lie.

• Housing – we have delivered houses in areas that never existed before, such as areas 9 and 10 in Kwanobuhle, Kamvelihle, Chatty Extension, Joe Slovo, Joe Slovo West, Qaqawuli in Kwazakhele, Wells Estate, Khayamnandi, Walmer township, Tiryville, Arcadia North, Missionvale garden lots, Langa, MK Silvertown, Pola Park, Ilungelo Village and Rosedale.

From 2011 till now this ANC-led NMBM has built 10 573 houses with access to water, sanitation and electricity.

Since 2011 we have relocated 4 327 residents from dangerous and unsafe areas, such as flood plains and dump sites. While acknowledging that most of our poor communities are concentrated in informal settlements, we have upgraded informal settlements, so ensuring that the poor and disadvantaged communities’ access to better services and improvement of quality of life is given priority.

Areas that have been upgraded and connected to basic services since 2011 include Motherwell NU30, Chris Hani, Zosa Street, Kleinskool, Joe Modise, Peace Village and Doornhoek, where we can proudly say as the ANC that we have restored the dignity of our people by constructing decent houses for them. While dealing with the delivery of houses, we also had to confront the challenges of houses that were shoddily built a few years back.

We made our own assessment and approached the Human Settlements Department for funding as the rectification of defective state-subsidised houses is its competence. Fortunately we were delegated the function to rectify the houses, hence we have since the 2011 financial year rectified 6 751 houses here in the Bay;

• Water and sanitation – since 2011 this ANC-led municipality has provided 14 938 households in formal housing with water and sanitation. We have ensured that 100% of households within the urban edge have access to drinkable (potable) water within a 200m radius;
• Provision of electricity – we are proud to say 87.3% of our residents have access to electricity. Some 13 109 house have been connected to electricity since 2011.

NMBM recorded an electricity loss of 12.29%. As part of our municipality’s distribution loss reduction project, a service provider was appointed to explore avenues for reducing electricity losses, and improving revenue generation and revenue collection.

To mitigate against electricity losses we have installed 502 energy-efficient high-mast lighting poles around the metro;

• Since 2011 we have developed three community centres, including the historic Kabah Langa Community Hall in Uitenhage. In addition a number of community centres were upgraded, including Mathew Goniwe, Joe Slovo, Nangoza Jebe, Veeplaas Community, Gelvandale Community, Jarman, Despatch Community and Zwide Community halls;
• Local economic development – our municipality, guided by the policy imperatives of the ANC, has attracted new investment to Nelson Mandela Bay since 2011. During the 2014-15 financial year, our municipality signed an agreement with Aspen to the value of R1.8-billion relating to infrastructure, and the purchasing of land and buildings The expansion at Aspen has led to 497 permanent jobs.

Some of the investors that we are proud of who have affirmed our ANC-led municipality as a place of investment of choice include FAW (first phase invested R600-million and created 83 jobs), Lighting Innovation (invested R60-million and created 120 permanent jobs), Clover (invested R100-million and created 100 jobs) and Discovery (invested R20 million and created 500 permanent jobs). Other investments attracted are Transnet with R8.5-billion, Prasa with R1.4-billion and VWSA with R4.5-billion.

Currently we are in negotiations with three investors with an investment value of R760-million that could create 900 permanent jobs.

We have not left out historically disadvantaged communities, in particular small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs). Since 2011 we have trained 2 735 SMMEs in entrepreneurship so they may be active participants in the local economy.

Our expanded public works programme, which has made a valuable contribution towards local job creation and skilling, has provided 10 873 permanent jobs and created 57 094 work opportunities in all the impoverished areas of our metro;

• In terms of our finances we can proudly say we are stable. With our R2-billion in cash reserves, we are elated with the leadership of mayor Danny Jordaan, councillor Rory Riordan and the collective for ensuring financial prudence.

Our credit ratings have also jumped and this was an affirmation of our stable finances. This all can be attributed to the sound leadership displayed and provided by Jordaan, of course supported politically by the ANC.

With this calibre of leadership, we can safely say the metro is in capable hands. The Nelson Mandela Bay metro is historically an ANC stronghold, so no other party can claim a stake in this region.

• Gift Ngqondi is an ANC spokesperson and head of the research unit in the office of the chief whip, NMBM.