Municipal bylaws are a key element of the social contract that enables us to live alongside each other and do business in ways that respect rights and maintain order in communal urban spaces, for everyone’s benefit.
They aim to enable us to live in harmony, rather than chaos and anarchy, by regulating noise, waste disposal, use of public amenities, business locations and operations, property maintenance, zoning and building codes, amongst others.
Like all laws, though, they can only achieve their purpose if citizens are aware of and obey them, and if the consequences for non-compliance are a sufficient deterrent.
Here lies the problem in Nelson Mandela Bay, as in many other cities.
Illegal dumping is widespread across business and residential areas. It is unsightly, unhygienic, a public health and safety risk, and contributes to blockages and overflowing of stormwater and sewage drains.
Cable theft and vandalism of public infrastructure is rampant. People are seen openly burning cables and scrap in public spaces to extract material for sale to scrapyards.
There is insufficient regulation of scrapyards and too many other “businesses” that operate unchecked without the necessary permits and licences, or in residential zones.
Decaying and derelict buildings become havens for illegal activity and contribute to unsafe areas, but officials are often hampered in their ability to act against delinquent property owners and illegal occupants, for various reasons from sufficient manpower and resources to absence of meaningful sanctions.
There is a lack of visible policing; a lack of clearing, cleaning and general maintenance; and key municipal departments related to bylaw enforcement, such as the Metro Police and Fire Department report that they are under-staffed, under-resourced and under-spending.
All of this contributes to a metro that is a visible mess, lacking in public order, health and safety, deterring investment and tourism, and impacting residents’ quality of life.
One can ascribe this to a general decline in respect for the law in our country; some taking advantage of a broken system while others have become complacent or defeated, no longer bothering to report what is broken or illegal because “nothing comes of it”.
That is part of it, along with a lack of awareness of bylaws and acceptable behaviour.
On the one hand, insufficient policing of bylaws metro-wide and a lack of warning signs; on the other, the very human tendency that if one sees waste dumped, one assumes it is a dump and adds to the pile.
The other aspect is lack of resources and coordination.
In its latest annual report, the NMB municipality acknowledges challenges in bylaw implementation, including lack of a policy, standard operating procedure and workflow for managing complaints, and lack of systems to coordinate and monitor reporting and resolution of bylaw transgressions.
The metro has only five town rangers responsible for enforcing waste management bylaws, on illegal dumping, for example. If the fines they issue are ever paid, or prosecutions result, is unknown.
The Metro Police, the coalface of enforcing bylaws, has an overall 87% vacancy rate, mostly at the “boots on the ground” levels.
What can be done?
As businesses, we need to protect our property, employees and customers, to retain jobs and keep our businesses viable.
The first step is understanding what the bylaws are, where and how to report transgressions, how to hold the authorities accountable for enforcement, and motivate for fines and penalties that are a sufficient deterrent.
The geographic clusters supported by the Business Chamber across the metro are taking action with clearing illegal dumping and cleaning programmes, as well as installing cameras that enable monitoring, collaboration and information-sharing across clusters and with the authorities.
Through our Business Enablement Task Team, we are investigating the system of bylaws and enforcement, in priority areas of waste and dumping, scrapyards and metal dealers, problem buildings, safety and security and protection of infrastructure.
This will enable business to act together to lobby for more boots on the ground, better enforcement and more appropriate penalties.
We all deserve better. We deserve to have Nelson Mandela Bay looking and feeling like the Bay of Opportunity that it is.
We need to restore our accountability to each other as citizens and report illegal dumping, illegal scrapyards, businesses operating without the necessary permits, unhygienic premises, vandalism.
It’s not good enough to say “they must fix this” – the municipality can’t fix what it doesn’t know about. Report bylaw infringements, vandalism, leaks, blocked drains, get a reference number, and follow-up.
This is not an “us and them” situation, it’s an “us problem” and we all need to play a part if we want to see restoration of law and order and a clean, safe and amenable living and business environment.
Paola Horak is Director of Grindstone Property Management and Development and the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Board lead for geographic clusters.