Speech delivered Executive Mayor Zanoxolo Wayile at the Business Breakfast Session held at the Radisson Blu

Tuesday, 24 April 2012

Programme Director

Business leaders

Representative from DBSA

Representatives from Eastern Cape Socio-Economic Consultative Council

Members of the media

Distinguished guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning

Molweni

Goeie more

  • Programme Director, allow me to first take this opportunity to welcome everyone to this important business briefing. I also wish to express my sincere gratitude to business for taking time out from their busy schedules to be with us this morning.
  • Distinguished guests, major developments have taken place in NelsonMandelaBay since the beginning of 2012. Chief among these is the massive investment by China’s Automotive Group, FAW which is set to create 2000 direct jobs when fully operational.
  • We also had the official opening of the Port of Ngqura by President Jacob Zuma, confirming the strategic importance of the region in government’s plan to grow the local economy.
  • Fellow citizens, March 2012 also marked the launch of the Eastern Cape Automotive Cluster aimed at placing the auto sector in the province on a higher and more sustainable growth path.
  • A number of groundbreaking announcements were also made and some have been implemented already, these include:
  1. The reduction in port charges levied against exporters of manufactured goods resulting in significant decreases in port charges equaling R 1 billion in total.
  2. The reduced tariff increase by Eskom in support of economic growth and job creation.
  3. The launch by Transnet of its R300 billion infrastructure plan that is set to create 588 000 new jobs in the South African economy.
  4. The R10 billion energy infrastructure deal concluded between the Provincial Government and Eskom which will include increasing transfer of power to the NelsonMandelaBay and BuffaloCityMetropolitanMunicipalities over the next six years.
  5. An envisaged tax relief for businesses that invest in the designated Special Economic Zones. As Coega is one of the SEZ’s, companies investing in the Coega IDZ are likely to benefit from incentives such as reductions in Corporate Tax and support for employment and training expenses.
  • Distinguished guests, in his 2012 Budget Speech the Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan also made some significant announcements relating to local government, these included:
  1. The implementation of a new Cities Support Programme focused on improving spatial planning, public transport systems and management of infrastructure utilities.
  2. Technical assistance that will be give to Municipalities, through the Neighbourhood Development Grant, to ease capacity constraints.
  • I raise all these issues, programme director, in attempt to highlight the many opportunities that government is opening up in its endeavour to promote a better life for all, one that is free from the triple scourge of unemployment, poverty and inequality. We need to ask ourselves as business, if we are ready to leverage on these developments and help grow the local economy and strike a fatal blow on poverty and joblessness. For long, we have underperformed as a city not because we lack the drive and motivation to succeed but because there has been a lack of synergy and coordination between what the local state is doing on the one hand and what business is doing on the other.
  • Programme Director, this has to change if we are to realize our potential and propel this city on a positive growth path. As the Municipality we therefore extend a hand of friendship to business in NelsonMandelaBay to work with us as we turn things around.
  • Distinguished guests, to show our commitment and sincerity we have taken a decision to resuscitate the Investment Council and we intend working closely with the business sectorin making sure that it plays a meaningful role in charting the economic growth of the City. Key amongst its functions will be to promote skills development, drive infrastructure development in the region, develop strategies to promote employment, assist the Municipality in accessing funding available from the national fiscus and other external sources and also assist with advocacy work to promote Nelson Mandela Bay as a suitable investment destination.
  • Ladies and gentlemen, As the city’s administration we realize that business can play a meaningful role in the Municipality’s planning process only if it is given information and access to the institution. To this end we intend introducing follow up sessions wherein business will interact with municipal directorates directly. In these sessions the respective Executive Directors will have a chance to interact with business on the projects they intend pursuing, detail budgets involved as well as shed light on where we intend rolling- out such projects so that business can comment and provide the necessary capacity where possible.
  • I know that there have been complaints by black business in the past that they felt marginalized by the Municipality. We are saying this will no longer be the case as we are committed to addressing the imbalances of the past.
  • Programme Director, I know that all of this issues I have articulated require a stable, accountable and response administration. Chief among these is the finalization of the appointment of a permanent Municipal Manager, to this end, we intend finalizing this process as soon as possibleto be closely followed by the filling of the vacant Executive Directors’ positions. Notwithstanding this limitation, we have nonetheless done a lot to try and promote stability and bring certainty to business and the entire community of NelsonMandelaBay.
  • The unqualified audit report the Municipality has received for the fourth successive year speaks volumes about the great strides being made in improving governance and legislative compliance and financial management and discipline. A cause for concern, however, is the matters of emphasis and repeat findings raised by the Auditor-General and to this end we are putting systems in place to correct these.
  • We have already addressed the concerns expressed by the Auditor-General around Supply Chain Management processes by reviewing the Supply Chain Management Policy, in line with National Treasury’s Supply Chain Management Framework, to ensure clean, transparent and credible supply chain management processes. We have also reconstituted our Supply Chain Bid Committees in an effort to promote efficiency and effectiveness.
  • We have made great strides in stabilizing and strengthening the Municipality’s administration, in partnership with the Provincial MEC MrMliboQoboshiyane and the Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs. Here, I also wish to acknowledgethe sterling role being played by the Section 154 Support Team with its various work streams ably assisted by internal staff. This intervention has been successful in driving institutional re-engineering.
  • Ladies and Gentlemen, our service delivery performance is closely tied to sound financial management and discipline within the institution. Through the implementation of the financial recovery plan and the operational efficiency plan, we have managed to place the institution on a sound financial footing and are now on the road to recovery. To support our financial recovery, it was vital that we continue improve our average revenue collection rate.
  • As alluded to before, the Municipality is acutely aware of the need to grow the local economy and create jobs in order to deal with the triple related challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality. Going forward, more emphasis will be placed on sustainable economic growth and development initiatives. In this regard expertise will be sourced from private and public institutions on issues of economic development, facilitating investments and new export contracts, and greater synergy and integration will be promoted between job creation initiatives and skills development. Further to this, the Municipality is in the process of developing a shared vision, mission and long-term development strategy to chart the growth and development path of NelsonMandelaBay.
  • In line with National Government’s priorities, the Municipality is committed to promoting and facilitating the creation of decent jobs by encouraging significant investments in the local economy, SMME development and support and widening the reach and impact of the Expanded Public Works Programme, with specific focus on the youth, women, people with disabilities and other marginalized sectors.
  • Distinguished guests, corruption continues to be a cancer that is eating away at society’s moral fibre, however, Let me assure you that we will follow a zero tolerance approach to any instances of corruption, regardless of the identity or position of the person involved. Our internal audit and law enforcement agencies will be utilized to the full to root out any form of corruption. We will soon embark on anti-fraud and anti-corruption awareness campaigns in the institution to promote high ethical standards and safeguard the public purse. This drive will also include tightening weak institutional and governance systems.
  • With these words I ask that we work together hand in hand to place NelsonMandelaBay on a positive growth trajectory.

I thank you!

Councillor Zanoxolo Wayile

Executive Mayor

NelsonMandelaBayMunicipality

1