The outgoing municipal manager, Neil Diamond, again assured residents this week that the improvements at the City of Mbombela Local Municipality will continue. He said he has an entire senior management in place and it consists of people who he is sure will continue the good work.

“They are competent and capable officials. The entire official management has been filled.”

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He made this statement during his farewell dinner held on Tuesday at Emnotweni Arena.

He also said the turnout on Tuesday evening was humbling and he was filled with grief and sorrow to be leaving.

“I was not born in the Lowveld, but I was born to be a Lowvelder. I will think of Mbombela every day for the rest of my life.”

Diamond said the plans that they crafted back in 2017 will continue to appear. He mentioned the water issues in White River and changes to Enos Mabuza Drive as some of the improvements that have already started to show.

“The trees that have been planted will bear fruit and they will be seen shortly.”

His highlights included that in 2018 they sorted out the issues of late payments.

“We have managed to reduce the time in which creditors were paid from 210 days to 90 days,” he explained. He was quick not to take credit himself. “It is my team that works that had the paradigm shift.”

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He also lauded the Mbombela community for having a paradigm shift of its own and working with the municipality to make a difference. He praised the residents for changing their attitude. “We live in an environment where ratepayers’ money and taxes are squandered and wasted. I did not want that to be the case for the City of Mbombela,” he said.

Diamond tendered his resignation in July.He will be relocating to the United States to join his family.
He was appointed as acting MM in July 2017. He was made permanent MM last November and appointed for a three-year period.

The guests agreed that his tenure made a visible impact on the city.

Robert Gibbs of Mopani Pharmacy said he was completely gobsmacked when Diamond first had a conversation with the business community. The atmosphere in the city changed. He lauded Diamond’s openness, availability and willingness to hear from the man in the street. “I hope and pray the guys he leaves behind will continue what he started.”

Cobus Tomlinson said, “As organised business and organised tourism we need to have this interaction. Thank you for opening those doors and making it possible for us. We are one, like it or not we are  one. Thank you. We sincerely hope that this will continue to the future.”

Nora Fakude of Buscor said she has not met Diamond herself and she thinks she has missed a very great opportunity. She mentioned that she heard of him from her team members at Buscor and they talked of how he worked well with them.

Astrid Christianson, Barberton Community Tourism marketing manager, said she wants to thank him for all the support for Barberton tourism. “The troubles are not over yet, but you have really opened a big doorway.”

Wendy Tshawe, general manager for water and sanitation, said, “When I came to Mbombela you were the first person that I looked up to as the GM of water and sanitation. I thank God that I was reporting to you. You taught me to take my job seriously and to put people first, to communicate and to have an open-door policy.” Tshawe said he is kindhearted and it was a pleasure for her to report to him.

TJ Maré, chairman of KLCBT, said Diamond has done a great job in the city. “He never looked at the city as this big thing. His honesty, endurance and his love for the people were some of the groundbreaking reasons why people love him so much. He had a big challenge, but the thing is that he overcame all of those challenges and he is leaving the city in a much better state.”

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