Nelson Mandela Bay executive mayor, Danny Jordaan, has presented a wide-ranging report on his first 100 days in office.
Jordaan, who was appointed by the ruling ANC to turn-around and stabilise the Metro, said one of their first priorities was to reconnect with the people.
Addressing councillors, business leaders and constituents at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Wednesday, Jordaan also said that he had to curtail the multi-million rand budget deficit...
"As the budget projected, that this city will have, over the next three years, a R400 million deficit, so that by year three this city will owe R1.2 billion and we said no. We cannot do this. We have to re-visit that budget. The second thing we had to do is re-connect the Metro and it's citizens including business and church leaders, education and trade unions"
Jordaan's administration this week also announced the suspension of 17 officials, including high-ranking members of the Municipality.
Acting Municipal Manager Mzwakhe Clay said the suspensions relate to a range of allegations of irregularity and gross negligence, failure or refusal to co-operate with an investigation and violation of the provisions of the Municipal Finance Management Act.
He said disciplinary hearings would commence soon.
Jordaan said on Wednesday that they assisted the Hawks with their investigation, by briefing them on a regular basis.
"We must provide for that process to continue, without making conclusions. We have also briefed the Hawks on these matters. They also made a lot of grounds in terms of this investigation" he added.
