Newly elected Nelson Mandela Bay mayor, Danny Jordaan, has called on citizens to examine whether, as individuals or as a collective, enough is being done to look beyond the petty personal horizon to what is important for the entire Metro.
In his inaugural address at Nangoza Jebe Hall on Thursday morning, Jordaan called for a shift from individual interests to that of the Metro as a whole.
He said the Metro is fortunate to carry the name of an iconic statesman who was able to bend the moral arch towards justice.
"The ark of the moral universe is long but it always bends towards justice. Justice means that we must deliver consistently to the people of this area."
Jordaan said that the delivery of consistent services also includes making environment's safe for residents.
He said one cannot have a situation where some residents do not sleep in their beds, but under their beds because of gang wars and bullets flying around at night.
Jordaan said peace needs to be restored.
"It cannot be that children who go to school must be more concerned with the difficulty of the subject but more concerned of whether they are going to be safe or will there be gunshots ringing in the school yard. We have to address these issues and we will deal with this matter."
He also took a dig at absent opposition Councillors who announced on Wednesday that they would be boycotting his election as executive mayor.
The empty tables bore testimony to their absence.
Council Speaker, Maria Hermans, said that she would not accept their written apologies as they had not been tendered 48 hours prior to the meeting.
Opposition parties reportedly did not want to the Special Council meeting to take place at Nangoza Jebe Hall in New Brighton but at its regular venue in the City.
Meanwhile, Jordaan said two major interventions will take place to deal with challenges within the administration.
In his inaugural address Jordaan said cost cutting measures on non-core expenditures such as international flights would have to be done away with.
He said youth, sport, arts and culture were barely catered for in the budget and this needed to change.
Jordaan recommended to council that an amended version of the draft budget should be considered within seven days
He said the draft budget needed to be reviewed, in order to improve and ensure a surplus budget to create the fiscal space for investment in infrastructure.
"We want to use that surplus to invest in infrastructure. The infrastructure in this city is beginning to decline and there must be a greater investment in infrastructure if we want to see economic growth in this city. So economic growth, unemployment and youth unemployment in particular is a big challenge. Youth unemployment is at 47% and unemployment is around 30% so it's a big problem." said Jordaan.
In addition to the draft budget review, its been agreed with the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs that a team will be brought to the metro to deal with challenges within the administration.
Jordaan added that they have not yet started a debate with regards to the appointment of members in the mayoral committee.
"We have not even started the debate so therefore there cannot be an outcome. We agreed that a process of engagement must start and no one must predict the outcome.I hope that if we can conclude in this week because it is an urgent matter, so we start on Monday." said Jordaan
