As Nelson Mandela Bay heads towards the 2026 local government elections, a non-partisan civic movement is encouraging residents to take a more active role in the future of the city.
The movement, Citizens of NMB, brings together local business people, civil society organisations, churches and residents who share an interest in seeing a better functioning metro.
One of its three founding directors, Kevin McLoughlin, said the initiative was born out of both frustration with the challenges facing the metro and recognising the positive potential.
“The starting point was really frustration but also optimism.
"As business owners and residents, we became increasingly frustrated seeing the same problems discussed repeatedly - water, electricity, roads, sewerage, crime, municipal administration, and the broader decline in confidence in the city.
"Citizens of NMB was created to provide a platform for people who care about the city and want to see it function properly."
McLoughlin said the organisation’s name was deliberately chosen to put emphasis on the fact that it belongs to the residents of Nelson Mandela Bay rather than its founders.
“We may have been the people who initially put the idea together and created the platform, but very quickly it became something much bigger than the individuals who started it.
"People have taken ownership of it by sharing stories, suggesting people we should meet, contributing ideas, challenging us, encouraging us, and helping shape what Citizens of NMB has become,” he said.
The movement has also sought to highlight stories about residents, businesses and communities, rather than focusing exclusively on the metro’s challenges.
McLoughlin said this was important because the city should not be defined solely by its municipal problems.
“A city is not its municipality. A city is its people.
"There are genuine and serious challenges facing Nelson Mandela Bay, but if all we ever do is talk about what’s broken, we create a distorted picture of our city.
"There are businesses employing people, children achieving remarkable things, communities solving problems, sporting talent, entrepreneurs creating jobs and residents doing extraordinary work every day."
The organisation has received what McLoughlin described as an encouraging response from the community, with people from different backgrounds engaging with the platform.
He said one of the biggest lessons from the initiative had been the diversity of the people and communities that make up the metro.
“Probably the biggest lesson is that NMB is much bigger and more diverse than the part of the city most of us experience every day.
"I’ve met people from communities I may not otherwise have encountered and heard stories about resilience, ambition, hardship and achievement.
"It has made me more optimistic about the city."
