By Levy Masiteng
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen slammed the African National Congress (ANC) local coalition during a rally in Nelson Mandela Bay on Monday, accusing the party of corruption and incompetence in its handling of the metro.
“The ANC coalition in Nelson Mandela Bay is corrupt and incompetent, and has failed to deliver basic services to residents,” he said.
“In the Eastern Cape, over the past three years, more than R1.3 billion in infrastructure funding has gone unspent, even as basic services collapse and residents continue to suffer.”
Steenhuisen was speaking at a campaign rally in Algoa Park, where Retief Odendaal was formally announced as the party’s mayoral candidate for the metro. Odendaal served mayor from September 2022 until he was removed in a motion of no confidence in May 2023.
Speaking about the DA’s turnaround plan for the metro, Steenhuisen said the party’s focus would be on putting people at the centre of governance, ensuring that the municipality delivers basic services, and that it supports economic growth.
“In the last financial year, Nelson Mandela Bay’s Electricity and Energy Directorate spent R707 million more than what it got from electricity sales,” said Steenhuisen.
He said the DA did not place “ideology or identity” at the centre of its politics. “It prioritises people. Unlike other parties, the DA will not make ridiculous promises which it has no intention of keeping. This explains why the DA dominates the centre of South Africa’s politics in exactly the same way that people are at the centre of our concern.”
“We will create a safe environment where life is cherished and business can thrive,” Steenhuisen said.
“We will ensure that municipal departments deliver the services you need by improving efficiency and reducing losses.”
He also spoke about the importance of restoring public trust.
“We will rebuild public trust by rooting out corruption and ensuring that government funds are spent, not returned; budgets are honoured, infrastructure, is realised.”
He said Odendaal “knows the administration of the metro like the back of his hand and has a critical understanding of the problems facing Nelson Mandela Bay”.
Steenhuisen said that during the time that Odendaal served as mayor, “the municipality did its job”.
“In those nine months, this city began to show the green shoots of the needed turnaround: better service delivery; cracking down on corruption; a growing metro police force; a revitalised economy…. Under Retief Odendaal’s leadership, Nelson Mandela Bay achieved its first unqualified audit in 12 years. Retief showed what competent, fair leadership can do.”
Two parliamentary oversight bodies are currently in the province, where they have questioned massive underspending and infrastructure backlogs.
The Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay metros have been singled out by the committees as being the worst for underspending. Other issues identified by the committees were poor revenue management and debt collection, and no or low consequence management for those found flouting the law. Nineteen underperforming municipalities are expected to appear before the committee.
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