Political leaders from the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality recently did an inspection of several ward councillors’ offices which have been damaged due to ongoing vandalism.
The inspection, led by council speaker, Buyelwa Mafaya, and chief whip, Ncediso Captain, was done in preparation for the reopening of the offices following the easing of the COVID-19 lockdown regulations.
Ten of the 13 vandalised offices were visited when the programme started and more will follow in the coming weeks.
During the inspection, Mafaya said that it was critical for councillors’ offices to be fully functional. “Unfortunately, COVID-19 lockdown regulations were used by criminals to break into offices and cause damage.
“For the past five months, we have gained a lot of service delivery backlogs and we need these offices ready to accelerate services.”
The first visits were conducted in various wards across the metro, with the aim of assessing any vandalism and the state of readiness of the offices before reopening to residents.
The inspection revealed that brazen thieves had vandalised ceilings and broken lights and locker doors. They also made away with municipal assets including, stoves, geysers, electrical cables and sinks, among others.
Safety and security portfolio head, Queenie Pink, who also joined the inspection, said that they had noticed the vandalism of facilities with great concern, especially the ward councillors’ offices.
“This has left our councillors unable to render some services to the communities. A lot of equipment was stolen during the higher levels of the lockdown. During the first three lockdown levels, ward councillors’ offices were closed and it was therefore difficult for them to establish what was stolen and assess the extent of the damage,” Pink said.
“The NMBM safety and security directorate, together with our facilities office, is now going around all wards to establish the state of the offices and the challenges faced by our ward councillors. They are there to render services to the people and once their offices are dysfunctional, our communities suffer,” she added.
The NMBM issued a strong warning against the vandalism of councillors’ offices, emphasising that these offices play a vital role in delivering services in communities.
“We would like to urge residents to protect the places where services are rendered and to take care of what they have in general, because once they are destroyed, they are not easy to replace,” Pink added.
“While the metro is dealing with the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of Day Zero requires us to double our efforts to ensure that every household has access to water and that good hygiene and good health are maintained.
“The vandalism of councillors’ offices and theft in these facilities will compromise the metro’s accelerated service delivery obligation.”
These incidents of vandalism and theft have been reported to the police and residents are urged to assist with the investigation if they have information regarding the crimes.
