Civil society coalition calls on new leader to live up to promises

The Bay Civil Society Coalition has welcomed the newly elected political leadership at the helm of Nelson Mandela Bay but has warned that they will be closely monitored to see whether they are able to turn promises into progress.

Civil society coalition chair Mongameli Peter welcomed new mayor Retief Odendaal’s promise to bring unity among political parties to focus on the needs of the residents.

Peter said they were always aligned to political unity in the interests of the residents and were in the process of drawing up scorecards to accurately map the progress of councillors and the metro’s performance.

“We are prepared to give the new coalition a chance — if it collapses or the councillors continue playing politics and looking after their own interests instead of those of the people, we will accelerate our call for legislated interventions, which includes our standing call for a change of governance model to an executive committee or the dissolution of the council,” he said.

Peter urged Odendaal and the parties which had entered into a coalition with the DA and those now in opposition to act speedily to restore services and law and order across the metro.

“People are living in slum conditions in large parts of the metro where service delivery has come to a halt.”

He said councillors needed to do their work, attend meetings and process decisions of the council to ensure that approved budgets were spent as intended.

“Committees need to meet regularly and to become functional the metro also needs a permanent municipal manager,” he said.

“We call on all councillors to act in a democratic way and to obey the rules of local government the election results of November 2021 should remind them that the will of the people is that they should work together.

“No party was given a clear majority —the people have spoken, and councillors need to listen.

“Urgent local needs include restoring services, making the metro conducive for job creation and planning for the impact of climate change, which is already being felt through the drought.”