The Nelson Mandela Bay Civil Society Coalition has set its sights on meeting and sharing its concerns and goals with the city’s latest acting municipal manager, Mpilo Mbambisa. This follows an intense three?hour meeting with deputy executive mayor Chippa Ngcolomba and Mayoral Committee members last month on 20 August 20 where the coalition raised concerns which included the R3.2?million golden handshake reportedly in store for former city manager Dr. Lindiwe Msengana?Ndlela.
A follow up meeting with Ngcolomba is scheduled for within the next two weeks where the coalition is hoping to get answers on issues including the crippling rising cost of electricity in the metro; the stalled Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) implementation; the R4.5?billion backlog in infrastructure spending and upgrades; and perceived corrupt supply in procurement processes and delayed payments to SMEs.
Chairperson of Coalition chairman and Business Chamber President Mandla Madwara, said the body also wanted clarity from Mbambisa about why he reportedly wanted the advertisements for 16 senior municipal manager positions set aside. It also wanted more details on Mbambisa’s new vision for eight executive metro managers, all reporting straight to him, said Madwara.
“The metro is in need of strong, effective, qualified and permanent leadership. This situation is clearly untenable, and has persisted for over three years,” said Madwara.
“The lack of a permanently appointed city manager and, by extension, a lack of support from permanently?appointed executive directors, leaves business and citizens in Nelson Mandela Bay to deal with a myriad of obstacles, including poor and non?existent service delivery and organisational instability.”
Madwara said the coalition was gaining momentum in achieving its goals. It was liaising with national and provincial authorities regarding its concerns and was working on bringing the parties to the Bay to engage with the coalition, he said.
Madwara said the coalition was still awaiting a response from the city council following its presentation to council in May, where, among a host of other issues, it raised fears that maladministration in the metro was chasing away possible investors.
The coalition is made up of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber, the NMB Ratepayers’ Association, the South African Non?Governmental Organisation Coalition (SANGOCO), COSATU, church leadership and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU).
Editor: The continued bungling by a group of thieving no hopers and has beens has left even me with no hope of salvation in sight. One gets the feeling that this bunch of miscreants is hell bent on one last hurrah before they hand a ravaged and raped city over to the next bunch of wild wolves and mercenaries to govern, sniff and howl over. Let us hope that the Civil Society Coalition is using the sights of a loaded gun. Aluta Continua!
Are we ready to hand over our Metro to another Wolf Pack?
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