The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has appealed to President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene to stabilise the city’s administration.
In an open letter to the President, the Chamber said it “noted with concern the matters arising out of the continued vacancy of the position of Executive Mayor as well as the legitimate tabling of the Draft Budget by the Council.”
“As organized business, we wish to voice our dissatisfaction with the prolonged dysfunctional state of the NMBM,” the Chamber said.
It said Nelson Mandela Bay has been without a full-time mayor for more than six months since the removal of the previous mayor last December.
The Chamber contends that the President has “an obligation to ensure that NMBM fulfills its executive obligations to avoid unlawful processes and ill-time judicial, provincial and/or national intervention in the affairs of this municipality, given that it has already been identified as a COVID19 hotspot”.
It also referred to recent communications from the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to investigate and address these matters.
“We reach out to your esteemed office to impress upon the direness of the situation and its legal, health, and socio-economic implications for NMB; should its Council fail to attend to the filling of the vacancy of Executive Mayor and the legitimate tabling of the 2020/21 Budget.”
The Chamber, which said its member companies employ over 100 000 people, has been deeply concerned for some time about the state of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality and its failure to provide an enabling environment in which business can operate.
“Given the dysfunctional state of the Municipality, overlaid with the Covid-19 crisis, we believe that urgent actions are required to prevent any further losses of jobs and investment in our local economy,” NMB Chamber said.
The Chamber also penned an open letter to Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality voicing its concerns about the state of affairs in the Metro.
