ANC will retain PE, vows Jordaan

THE ANC will not lose the tightly contested Nelson Mandela Bay Metro to the DA, mayor Danny Jordaan vowed yesterday.

“Can we win the metro? Of course we will. The ANC will win this metro. The ANC cannot lose the metro unless it defeats itself. It cannot lose the metro and there is no doubt about it,” Jordaan told reporters in Port Elizabeth.

He said he had been responsible for the beleaguered metro since he was appointed mayor 10 months ago.

“We have death with corruption in this metro. We have removed almost 29 of our people in the administration. The immediate impact we could see was the accelerated delivery of housing.

“In this short space of 10 months, we have delivered more houses than many years before,” said Jordaan.

“We have travelled a journey of 10 months and what has been achieved here is nothing short of a miracle.

“It is not because of us as individuals but is because of the ANC.”

Jordaan said the metro was now financially sound.

“We are financially stable. In May last year, this metro was going to table a budget before its council which reflected a deficit of R400 million.

“The intention was to have that deficit of R400m over three years, in other words a total deficit of R1.2 billion.

“We said no, we cannot take that budget to council. We reworked that budget and presented a budget to council with a small surplus of R12m. In the end it was R45m.”

They had cut a budget of R250m for international travel to conferences.

“I drew a line on it and said this is now zero,” Jordaan said.

Senior ANC officials have been canvassing for support ahead of the party’s local government elections manifesto launch scheduled for today in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The manifesto launch is to be followed by messages of support from the SACP and the South African National Civic Organisation. President Jacob Zuma is set to speak at 11am. – African News Agency