Statement by Athol Trollip Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay
A total of 350 previously disadvantaged unemployed residents signed EPWP contracts last week Thursday and Friday, and will jointly be paid R1.6 million from what remains of the 2016/17 EPWP grant.
Automatically and randomly selected off a database, these workers will be placed today and tomorrow to begin a mass clean up of our City’s Parks and Cemeteries. So far, teams are already at work in North End, Motherwell and New Brighton. By tomorrow, there will be teams across the City, from Uitenhage to Bethelsdorp, and from South end to Wells Estate.
As the political head of Public Health, I immediately took a decision to focus on cleaning our social infrastructure. Parks are crucial for recreation while cemeteries are where we pay respects to lost loved ones.
After too many years of decay and neglect, many of these once sacred open spaces have become dump sites. This has a direct and negative impact on our residents.
We want Nelson Mandela Bay to be a caring and well-run city, driven by service excellence and attention to detail. The unit will be in operation until the end of this financial year, and may continue operating into the next financial year depending on its efficacy, and fund availability.
The 350 workers have been given fair access to opportunities and resources. And our municipal infrastructure is receiving the attention it has desperately needed for so long.