Executive Mayor’s cordial engagement with Business Chamber
Published: June 13, 2023<< BACK TO NEWS
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Executive Mayor Gary van Niekerk met with the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber following exhausting walkabouts in wards 31 and 37 to identify and address service delivery concerns of the residents, today.
The bilateral with business was to re-assure this crucial stakeholder grouping that despite the change at the helm of City Hall, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality remains focused on working hand-in-glove with business to build a prosperous Nelson Mandela Bay.
"I am here to engage with you and to listen to your concerns as the devastating impact of loadshedding is evident in our city. Residents are working short time and must put in overtime, if possible, to equal their pay before the electricity crisis.
"We need to work with you to ensure that we provide solutions in order for residents to work without too many disruptions due to electricity shortages.
"I spent the majority of the last two days out of City Hall to address community concerns in Motherwell, Missionvale, Bloemendal and resolved the non-payment of Libhongulethu Bus Service staff, for the last two months, as my commitment is to lead a pro-poor administration.
"This also includes contributing to a conducive environment for workers to earn their wages without disruptions. We must therefore improve your electricity availability to enable targets to be met and production to be as seamless as possible,” Mayor Van Niekerk said.
The meeting took place at the Business Chamber’s headquarters at KPMG House in Greenacres with a number of prominent regional business executives in attendance.
Chief Executive Officer of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Denise van Huyssteen said: "We greatly appreciated the opportunity to meet with the Executive Mayor and to discuss the issues of concern to business, and more importantly potential solutions to the various economic challenges facing the metro.
"We were all aligned on the need to continue to strengthen collaboration between local government and business in order to retain much needed investment and jobs in Nelson Mandela Bay.
"In particular it is absolutely vital that loadshedding mitigation measures such as the 24 hour stage 5+ schedule and load curtailment are supported and expanded upon to help businesses survive through the electricity crisis.
"The Master Memorandum of Understanding between the Municipality and business provides an important framework to enable collaboration of shared resources and expertise to improve service delivery and embark upon innovative interventions which will benefit the local economy and our communities,” Van Huyssteen said.
A follow-up meeting to discuss proposals to improve availability of electricity supply to businesses will be held on July 4, 2023.
Ends
Issued on behalf of the Office of the Executive Mayor
by Media Management Officer Kupido Baron (082 780 2726 / 041 506 1500 / kbaron@mandelametro.gov.za / @kupidobaron).
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