This week I witnessed the end of a queue wondering what it was for. When I turned the corner, I thought it was for the bank, but upon turning the corner, I noticed that it went on for several hundred meters further waiting for the Department of Labour office open. This is a regular occurrence in central business districts (CBDs) especially on days when social grant payments are made and a daily occurrence at clinics. Thousands of people queue for hours before government offices open in the hope of being served before the day ends or systems go offline.

Today, Wednesday the 23rd the Mandela Bay Development Agency is launching the Lower Baakens Valley Zipline heritage investigation public participation process. Interested members of the public from anywhere in Nelson Mandela Bay are welcome to contribute their view. All comments can be submitted via the zero rated website portal, www.mbdaengage.co.za. A comprehensive Heritage Report is also available via this website.

The conversations about heritage can be quite a sensitive dialogue, especially for a country such as ours. If I look at my first project when I started at the Mandela Bay Development Agency in 2014, I was to restore the 1902 Gale Memorial in the South End Cemetery which at the time I knew very little about. The memorial was erected to commemorate those who perished in the hurricane on 2 September 1902 and are buried at the South End Cemetery.

During a difficult time underscored by the global Covid-19 pandemic, the Mandela Bay Development Agency in collaboration with independent arts organisations and emerging local artists, held a 3-day virtual Youth Festival.

September is Public Service Month in SA and President Cyril Ramaphosa has once again put the public sector in the spotlight. In his latest letter, the President commits the public sector to perform better than it is doing right now and exhorts it to step up and make a difference. It has become trite to continuously say that it would be unrealistic to expect the system that brought us to this point to suddenly change simply because of the President’s call. The Inter-Governmental Relations system places most of the development responsibilities onto local government, thus something needs to change there if we are to meet the challenges set by the president.