Below is an extract from a speech and soundbite delivered by Andrew Whitfield MP, DA EC Provincial Leader, at the Gqeberha City Hall after an extensive clean-up campaign across Nelson Mandela Bay. See pictures here, here, here, here, here and here.
Today, as we commemorate South African Human Rights Day, we must reflect on the injustices of the past. However, we cannot ignore the collapse of Nelson Mandela Bay under an inept ANC-led coalition government that has presided over the denial of residents’ basic right to live in a clean, healthy, and safe city.
Despite being enshrined in South Africa’s Constitution, the right to a clean, healthy, and safe environment remains elusive for the majority of Nelson Mandela Bay’s residents, even more than 30 years into our democracy. Under the current ANC coalition government, the municipality has descended into squalor, with many communities facing living conditions that are both hazardous and unacceptable.
Our city is plagued by filth and neglect, as essential services have broken down. Litter is left uncollected, refuse removal is frequently disrupted, illegal dumping has reached crisis proportions, and raw sewage spills onto streets, into homes, and businesses, posing serious health risks. Broken streetlights, regular water outages, and severely polluted waterways further compound the health and safety risks facing our residents.
We live in a city where 16 refuse compactor trucks are vandalised and stripped for parts at a municipal depot, leaving only 11% of the metro’s own fleet available to assist in cleaning our city. We live in a city where waste disposal sites are in a state of utter neglect, with no security measures in place, turning them into crime-ridden no-go zones.
As a result of this collapse of service delivery and unsafe living conditions, crime and other social ills have become more prevalent. Nelson Mandela Bay is one of the most violent metros in South Africa, and the reality is that grime leads to crime.
While residents are doing what they can, the municipality must take action. This is what residents pay rates for. We have the right to live in a clean, healthy, and safe environment.
Unemployment is rampant in our metro, and addressing this issue will also require the municipality to act and rid the city of its grime.
A clean, healthy and safe city is a key driver of economic growth and job creation. It attracts investment, encourages tourism and entrepreneurship, and reduces costs associated with poor health and crime. By prioritising these aspects, the metro can foster a thriving, sustainable economy that benefits both businesses and residents.
Today, DA public representatives, activists, and supporters joined forces to conduct a clean-up campaign in Windvogel, Algoa Park, and Central. The enormity of the challenge was evident as we hauled away approximately 8-10 tons of waste from just these areas to the Arlington Waste Disposal Site. This effort barely scratches the surface of the metro’s grime crisis, highlighting the need for urgent intervention.
Therefore, we also submitted a memorandum to the office of the MMC for Public Health, Cllr Thsonono Buyeye, to ensure that our demands for clearing out the rot are clearly listed and that our councillors are assisted to continue to fight for the residents of Nelson Mandela Bay in Council.
The DA will continue to fix what we can, using our own resources, where municipalities fail to fulfil their duties. And we will continue to do so until we take over government in 2026 and turn service delivery around.
The people of Nelson Mandela Bay and the Eastern Cape deserve to live lives of hope, meaning, and dignity and that is why we are in your corner, fighting for you.
The DA will continue our mission to ensure that our communities are not only places of growth and opportunity but also places where the basic human right to a clean, healthy, and safe environment is protected.