Chamber to host Bay’s Executive Mayor on tour of Deal Party
in the image: CEO of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Denise Huyssteen, Executive Mayor Eugene Johnson, Deputy Executive Mayor Buyelwa Mafana, MMC for Economic Development, Tourism and Agriculture Khusta Jack, Councillor Majola of ward 16, Councillor Khuselwa Ngxenge of ward 15
As part of leading the city’s resurgence efforts, the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has organised a tour of Deal Party on 08 February 2022 in conjunction with businesses in the area and will be joined by the Bay’s Executive Mayor Eugene Johnson.
This follows the establishment of the Deal Party Forum which is focused on addressing common issues which impact upon the ease of doing business in the precinct. Deal Party is home to 284 businesses, mainly in the automotive, construction, timber, retail, fuel and gas and light manufacturing. Due to a lack of general maintenance of key infrastructure in the last few years, the area has fallen into a state of disrepair.
This represents a critical mass in terms of the Metro’s local economy and as such, all stakeholders need to take collective action to ensure that the city can retain and grow investment.
Business Chamber CEO Denise Van Huyssteen, who also serves as the Forum’s chairperson, says that organised business is concerned about service delivery levels and how this directly impacts upon the retention and attraction of investment to Nelson Mandela Bay. “As organised business, we are generally concerned about the state of the operating environment – particularly as it relates to the basics such as water, electricity, roads cleanliness and so on, and how this impacts upon the sustainability of operations,” Van Huyssteen says.
“Business needs an enabling environment in which to operate, and it is only when the basics work that we can get on with the business of creating jobs.”
To this end, Van Huyssteen says the Chamber is elevating concerns about the state of Deal Party and is calling for a collaborative approach to address some of the challenges facing businesses in the area.
“As such, we have endeavoured to collaborate with the Municipality and other key stakeholders to find solutions to some of these various serious problems, with the ultimate objective of securing investment in our economy and creating much needed jobs. There needs to be an openness and commitment to establishing public-private partnerships which will help resurge our economy, thus serving the best interests of the city and its stakeholders as a whole.
“As we look ahead, it has become clear to us that an innovative way of approaching many of the challenges facing businesses operating in the Metro is to tackle these on a cluster basis, either by geography or sector. This provides a collective and united voice to working in a constructive manner to address the issues impacting upon businesses,” says Van Huyssteen.
To kick-start this process, the Forum has invited the Mayor and various Municipal representatives to join the tour of the area to gain an understanding of the challenges on the ground and to start engaging on potential solutions.
She says some of the businesses have indicated that they are expecting international parent delegations to once again start visiting their operations from early 2022, and they are concerned about how the current state of the area will reflect on future investment decisions.
As such, the visit would inform the delegation about what needs to be prioritised in order to drive for an enabling environment and promote growth in the city, as well as sustain businesses in the area.
Mayor Johnson says the Municipality is encouraged by the activism and commitment displayed by the Business Chamber.
“The constant honest engagements on critical issues that are the backbone of our economy can only mean the future of the City's economy is in good hands. We are aware of the current infrastructural challenges that have a potential to slow down our economic growth, we are working hard to improve our infrastructure. We have also created partnerships with institutions of higher learning to tap into the existing expertise. The Business Chamber has also shown a serious commitment in this regard,” she says.