The local government elections this week represent a landmark opportunity to turn Nelson Mandela Bay around, to restore governance, stability, effective service delivery and financial sustainability to the metro.
SummaryOpen the quick read
- Local government elections provide a decisive opportunity to reverse institutional decay and service delivery collapse in Nelson Mandela Bay.
- Businesses contribute 50% of municipal rates and 75% of electricity revenue, underscoring the vital need for reliable infrastructure to prevent disinvestment.
- The Nelson Mandela Bay Civil Society Coalition has developed an apolitical, pragmatic 18-month rebuild plan to support the incoming administration.
- The initiative focuses on technical partnerships, permanent executive appointments, and measurable recovery milestones rather than creating a parallel municipality.
- Rebuilding the metro requires a whole-of-society approach that leverages capable local officials and phased civil society support.
The local government elections this week represent a landmark opportunity to turn Nelson Mandela Bay around, to restore governance, stability, effective service delivery and financial sustainability to the metro.
Irrespective of who ends up gaining a majority or forming a coalition, the work of rebuilding this metro needs to start as soon as the ballots are counted.
The facts of the current state of the metro, and the inter-linked municipal instability which go back to the advent of coalition politics in 2016, are well-known.
Essentially, we have seen a destructive combination of governance instability, technical failure, skills shortcomings and financial weakness, driving institutional breakdown, weak service delivery, and loss of investor confidence and public trust.
This is a key contributor to the economic challenges facing Nelson Mandela Bay, with rising unemployment, substantial job losses linked to several significant company closures or down-scaling over the past few years, and a tourism sector lagging national and global post-Covid recovery.
It must be acknowledged that national and global factors largely out of anyone’s control have also contributed to the current state of the economy.
However, a functioning local enabling environment, with sound infrastructure and reliable municipal services, is the most basic need for business to function, to protect and create jobs and sustain its contribution to the municipal fiscus. In fact businesses in the Bay contribute at least 50% towards the Municipality’s income derived from rates, taxes and services, and a massive 75% to its electricity income. This does not even take into account all the rate payers who are employed by these same businesses.
Take a locally based plant of any multinational manufacturer. Their chances of convincing a headquarters on another continent to invest further, or not to shutter a poorly performing operation, are extremely low if their operating expenses are rising due to having to compensate for lack of local basic services and infrastructure failings.
Similarly, no matter how beautiful the beaches and game reserves, tourists will stay away from a destination where running water and electricity at their accommodation can’t be guaranteed, they can’t walk or drive in safety, buildings are decaying and the beautiful beaches are bathed in litter or worse.
Nonetheless, in the NMB Civil Society Coalition we have a broad, non-partisan and voluntary alliance of diverse local stakeholders in NGOs, civic organisations, church groups, organised labour and organised business, united in the view that Nelson Mandela Bay is the most fixable metro in the country.
Together, we have developed the NMB Rebuild Plan, as a practical contribution to the incoming political leadership, and the administration, to the task of municipal recovery – with a fresh approach, to avoid repeating the patterns that have undermined previous turnaround attempts.
The Rebuild Plan is apolitical and pragmatic, designed to support reform and strengthen institutional capacity irrespective of the composition or form of government in the new NMB council.
In fact, regardless of which political regime come into power, the plan is geared to support multi-stakeholder participation and a social partnership across parties, government and civil society, which will in turn aid a coalition in focusing beyond individual party interests to the best interests of the society they collectively serve.
In the run-up to the election, the Civil Society Coalition has managed to engage with a wide range and diverse contesting parties, to present the plan and explain the support being offered to the new council, the elected executive and the administration.
The plan has been positively received – finding broad consensus and buy-in across the political spectrum on the need for restoring governance and service delivery in the metro, and the proposed methodology.
There is broad acceptance of the principle that government alone cannot fix the systemic and technical issues facing the municipality, and that a vibrant and active civil society involvement is required to ensure accountability and action. The reality too is that rebuilding our metro, will not be a quick fix but it is urgent that it starts and that progress is visibility reported and tracked.
We have emphasised that the Rebuild Plan does not seek to create a parallel municipality, but rather involves business and civil society working with the municipality to strengthen its capacity, functionality and financial position.
The Rebuild Plan presents a collaborative approach of public, private and civil society partners working together towards a common goal of restoring stability and effective operations, rather than relying on one-off external interventions.
Where this plan is different, is that it has been developed with inputs from technical experts and has been bought into by the various constituencies in civil society and business, and it presents a structured, phased programme over 18 months. It identifies key priorities, such as appointments of permanent executive leadership, and sets out the actions steps and measurable outcomes.
Progress milestones will be monitored by the municipality and the social partners together, to ensure they stay on track or to take swift corrective action.
A core principle of the plan is that the hands-on involvement of the proposed engine room of technical experts from business and society working with municipal officials, must be gradually phased down as operations stabilise.
The municipality should not be viewed through a lens of failure alone, and the plan emphasises the need to draw on the capable and committed politicians and officials who do exist within the metro, whose deep institutional knowledge and experience, technical expertise and dedication will be critical to the success of the recovery. Ultimately the goal is to ensure that the Municipality succeeds.
Tomorrow and in the following weeks, after the election ballots are counted and a new council installed, we all need to stop looking backwards.
Now is the time to stop diagnosing and blaming, to look forwards and start rebuilding for a healthier economy and social fabric. A whole of society approach is required to rebuild our metro, and it is must start now.
Denise van Huyssteen is CEO of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber.