A dilapidated municipality building that was harbouring vagrants in the Central Business District in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro has finally been demolished. This follows a number of complaints from various businesses over safety, robbery and cleanliness of the area as a result of this structure.
Alec Brett Properties, Action committees as well as the municipality collaborated to make this project a success. They now intend to use the now vacant land to build a parking area and construction is underway.
Once public toilets, but now a home to alleged criminals. Walls covered with soot and graffiti. The occupants are said to have harassed customers, breaking into cars and causing damage.
Alec Brett Property Trust trustee says, “We have international tenants here and they were complaining about the safety of the place. Every one wasn’t happy, the place was in a bad state which is bad for the businesses.”
The intervention of the private sector ensured the smooth running of the project pro-active co-operation was needed to ensure safety in the area.
“When we came here to see, we were very disgusted by what we saw. There were illegal activities like drug abuse and cable stripping. This was a menace to the society. We want to be an example that this can be done all over the country.”
There are many other areas around the city that need attention. The municipality is working with the business chamber to intervene.
Executive director for public health, Sizwe Mavunelwa explains, “We have partnered with Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber where we identify these and work together. This is tremendous work that they are doing, cleaning up our city and ensuring that it is safe.”
The municipality established a problem building by-law committee, so far they have managed to demolish 44 buildings from 2019 up until now.
