A consummate public servant

Being a ward councillor in SA is difficult and relentless, especially in wards where almost everyone has the same levels of immediacy regarding expectations of the public sector.

Due to the cumulative effects of composite municipal ineffectiveness combined with expanding public expectations, it is rare that commitments made by aspirant councillors are implemented once elected.

It requires a combination of several skills to be an effective local public representative.

A person with that combination of skills died last week, succumbing to the effects of the dreaded virus.

Councillor Ncediso Captain, representing Ward 17 in New Brighton, was one of four councillors from this historic township.

The oldest in Port Elizabeth, the result of preapartheid forced removals, it has produced leaders in the fields of academia, community development, culture, politics, and labour among others.

He had the ability to cut through complexities in pursuit of public investments in his ward and those of his fellow New Brighton councillors.

The MBDA has been investing municipal resources into public infrastructure in New Brighton over several years and my first encounter with him was when we met to discuss the projects he believed the MBDA should undertake.

He wanted New Brighton to be an inspiration by developing an educational programme that celebrates its history and promotes the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality as a must-see destination for local and international tourists.

My response was procedural, referring to the approved IDP, budget and local area plan. His response was swift and clear.

Captain knew which IDP it was approved in, why it should have been budgeted for and that the local area plan was approved.

This is what the team at the MBDA will miss about Captain, his determination to ensure that what was committed to his ward and New Brighton in general, would be implemented and it would be done without breaking any law or undermining any process.

For the next few years, the MBDA will continue its New Brighton programme that Captain was central to formulating.

The programme focuses on social transformation of the precinct by facilitating delivery of psychosocial interventions, creative industries programmes, heritage preservation, sports, tourism and investing in the needs of youth by increasing employability through capacitation and creating actual employment opportunities.

As we continue our work, Captain’s guiding spectre will hover over the MBDA.

Collectively, this includes:

● Recognising diversity in his ward while paying special attention to the immediate needs of the elderly; His belief that “an elderly person needs to be cared for as if they are an infant” resulted in a rare visit from the department of social development to account to pensioners directly and ensuring that commitments made were followed up;

● Eschewing parochialism and embracing oneself as part of something larger. His favourite phrase was “we are not looking at wards, we are looking at developing New Brighton as a whole” and he encouraged stakeholders to focus on the larger objectives. He was able to adapt ideas from everyone and everywhere, from Soweto and Sweden;

● Recognising the complexities of youth development through the establishment of youth training facilities in all wards where discussions on the state of society are coupled with technical skills training;

● Living transparency and accountability. Before construction started on the TC Magqabi swimming pool he spent two days doing back-toback meetings, with the education, business and youth sectors in different voting districts, because once completed it would become a community asset which they had requested and would need to take responsibility for. He expected the same levels of budget transparency and expenditure accountability from us; and

● Discouraging political discussions between officials and councillors, preferring instead to regale us with stories from the struggle and the relevance of our work in that context.

When the first among us pass on, we often recognise their contributions through the renaming of buildings and streets or the erection of statues. We rarely carry on from where such people left us.

One unresolved challenge and one which Captain was determined to sort out, is Red Location, the dense mix of formal, semi-formal and informal dwellings and enterprises in New Brighton.

The adjacent Red Location Museum is in a state of decay because of housing disputes which led to its closure.

If the stalemate prevails, the conditions of people in Red Location will worsen and the museum will enter a state of terminal decline. At the same time, the rest of the site will also remain undeveloped.

In his honour, would the residents of New Brighton not consider coming together to resolve a dispute which could accelerate change?

Would it not be a fine tribute to this consummate public servant if those he served turned the Red Location problem into an example of overcoming complex and seemingly intractable problems?

As Captain demonstrated, with service delivery, no problem is insurmountable.

● Ashraf Adam is CEO of the MBDA. Thandie Mafu, a project manager for programmes in New Brighton, co-authored this column.