The Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA), the implementing agent for the Safety and Peace through Urban Upgrading (SPUU) programme funded by KfW Bank of Germany, on Thursday (30th January) hosted a delegation from the Bank. The main purpose of the visit was to assess progress and finalize other details related to counter funding and sustainability.

The largest South African flag has been re-installed at Donkin Reserve on the 16th of January after undergoing refurbishments and maintenance. The cause of the damage was triggered by severely wear and tear on the nearly 10-year-old mechanism used to hoist the flag. The flag was hoisted for the first time in 2010 amid a regal ceremony facilitated by members of the army.

I recently had the privilege of attending a course on the tools of urban planning hosted by the French Development Agency in Marseille. We spent the time exploring large parts of the city and the complexities of contemporary urbanism in this Mediterranean city of 1.6m people, a comparable size to Nelson Mandela Bay.

2018/2019 has been on all accounts a major milestone and turnaround year for the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) owned entity, the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA). The financial year which started on July 1st in 2018 and ended on June 30th, 2019, the period marked the consolidation and implementation of key strategic interventions that the Board had set out to achieve, it is the culmination of two years of intense refocusing.

Section 152 of the Constitution requires municipalities to promote “social and economic development”, “a safe and healthy environment” and focus on the basic needs of communities. They should also participate in the programmes of the other spheres of government. Although the Constitution was adopted in 1996, the current local government system was established with the December 2000 municipal elections; the framework for which arises out of the 1998 White Paper on Local Government. This White Paper gave rise to most of the laws pertaining to municipalities, including the Municipal Structures Act of 1998 and the Municipal Systems Act of 2000, both of which amplify the Constitutional powers and functions of municipalities. When read together, the concepts of functional integration and human development permeate throughout.