It is no secret that the South African economy is in the doldrums, with business confidence this week reaching its lowest level since the 1980s. It, therefore, comes as no surprise when Nelson Mandela Bay acting city manager Anele Qaba says the city is struggling to attract investors.

While we are not immune to the gloomy national economic outlook, ours is compounded by the fact that our municipality battles even to keep the streets clean. In an interview with this newspaper, Qaba spoke about the difficulties of trying to get investors to pour money into a city that is filthy, riddled with potholes and unsafe...