AFTER several sleepless nights and spending every waking hour of the day fighting for his community, this Nelson Mandela Bay councillor recently received a citizen’s award for the best performing councillor of 2022.
Ward 10 councillor, Lenny Moodley, walked away with the coveted title but remains humble, saying that this is not only his award, it also belongs to the community and his team at the ward councillor’s office.
Moodley said that the award was given as an appreciation of the work that he and his team had done, and reasons given at the awards ceremony were his good performance by being on the ground to serve his community, working to ensure service delivery and driving projects and issues.
“I didn’t enter a competition but someone nominated me. I honestly did not expect to win; there are also other hardworking councillors. However, it makes me feel appreciated and that my sacrifices are not in vain. It inspires me to work harder for my residents,” he said.
The awards ceremony was hosted by The Concerned Citizens of PE Metro and is a civil society award, according to the organisation’s chairperson, Farouk Japtha.
“It was our first event since the pandemic. The previous winner was the late councillor Andy Jordan. Councillor Moodley showed us that he was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the greatest councillor for us in 2022,” Japtha said.
Moodley said, “The community is very happy about my award because they are aware of my sleepless nights assisting residents and working 24 hours, seven days a week without rest.”
He has been very vocal in the past year about certain issues in his ward, especially the derelict state of the Malabar Sports Field and Malabar Swimming Pool.
Apart from these, other projects in his ward have been taking shape, such as ensuring that the local clinic operates for an additional day per week, as well as trying to keep children safe and off the street, among others.
Moodley and his team recently also completed a school clothes drive for children in their ward, and have declared 2023 as The Year of the Child.
“No child will be left behind and no child will be begging at robots. Many children received items that they need for school. We are busy with our Malabar Sports Field, cleaning it and getting ready for a Ward 10 sports tournament in the form of soccer and volleyball,” he said.
Other projects that they are busy setting up are the Little Girls Club, an empowerment of young women that involves an educational element, and the Ward 10’s Got Talent competition which will come soon.
A movie night for Malabar Extension 6 is also in the pipeline.
Moodley reiterated that he would not have won this award if not for the help and support of his team.
“This is a team award and includes my staff and ward committee,” he concluded.
