Watershed moment for PSBF

NEW ‘kids on the block’, the Port Shepstone Business Forum (PSBF) made a really grand entrance at their launch dinner in the Civic Centre on Friday night.

The hall was packed with some of the coast’s most influential business people who enthusiastically pledged their support for the new body which hopes to rejuvenate and build Port Shepstone and the South Coast in general through partnerships with both Ugu and Ray Nkonyeni (formerly Hibiscus) municipalities, provincial and national government.

The PSBF executive, chaired by Dr Ayoob Bux, left the dinner upbeat and determined to make a difference.

“Tonight is time for action. It is time for getting business and government to start walking the talk… it is in this spirit of making a positive difference and contributing to hope that the PSBF was formed,” said Dr Bux.

He said the focus was on business people because they had access to various resources and could serve as catalysts, connecting various key sectors of society, namely government, civic organisations, NGOs and the public towards getting things done.

Dr Bux pointed out that it was not an exclusive club for men. They supported women empowerment and the representation of women and called for all business people to become members of the PSBF.

“We would love landlords to make their properties aesthetically more pleasing, especially in the CBD. The Oribi Plaza, Beekman House and more recently, the new Holiday Makers shop are shining examples of how these improvements have impacted positively on our town.”

He urged the municipality to address the lack of parking in the CBD urgently.

Building plans should also be fast tracked so developers did not have to wait ages for approval.

We can build a region of excellence right here, a model for others to follow. We do not have to accept being the periphery anymore… we can become the core and the nucleus for much needed change, – Ayoob Bux

The respective municipal managers, DD Naidoo (Ugu District Municipality) and Max Mbili (Ray Nkonyeni), as well as Ravi Pillay, MEC for Human Settlements and Sihle Zikalala, MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, spoke on the night and also hailed the initiative.

Mr Mbili spoke of HCM’s partnership with the PSBF, noting that the forum made a meaningful contribution in the development of the Port Shepstone Urban Renewal Plan, its plans to provide refuse bins, to revamp all public toilets and its cleaning campaigns with the aim of removing illegal posters in the CBD.

Mr Mbili proudly announced that the current government projects under construction in Port Shepstone totalled R549 million. Some of these projects were the library (R54m), museum (R21m), justice park (R245m), the technology hub (R59m) and the department of education offices (R170m).

Future private and government infrastructure plans were the Port Shepstone intermodel facility (R345m), Settlers’ Park multipurpose deployment (R280m), marina development (R800m), Sharks Den development, public parking block in Dickens Parking, Marburg light industrial development and the implementation of the Port Shepstone Urban Renewal Plan.

During Mr Naidoo’s address, he said Ugu had managed to reduce the non-revenue water from 42 percent in 2008 to 27 percent to date.

Ugu had made major strides in ensuring ultimate reduction of water loss and non-revenue water at large and this was highlighted at the recent launch of the Leak Detection Testing Rig and Pressure Management Control Room at 2 Lind Road in Marburg.

Mr Naidoo said that this system was the first of its kind in Africa and only the second in the world, with another only in Brazil.

It was also mentioned at the leak detection rig launch that the municipality had received accolades for being the best performing municipality in terms of this requirement with an excellent score of 95.38 percent, according to the latest No Drop Report published by the Department of Water and Sanitation.

Mr Naidoo also broke the news on the night that special customer relations staff were being appointed in his office to help solve problems.

“This is so businesses can do business and make money.”

However, the new system does not seem to be in place yet and the Herald could not help several callers who wanted to know contact details as their calls to Ugu were going unanswered.

Asked to elaborate on Mr Naidoo’s announcement, France Zama, spokesman for Ugu, sent the following email.

“Ugu’s complaints policy and procedure states that the municipal manager (MM) is the ultimate custodian of customer service.

“It states that after exhausting all channels, consumers have a right to lodge their complaints with the MM’s office. It is important that all the escalated complaints are put in writing and must contain previous reference numbers. In support of the PSBF, the MM invited the members to utilise this facility to escalate service delivery of cases affecting the running of their businesses (water, sanitation and environmental services) to the MM’s office. Customers must deliver written complaints to the MM’s Office at 28 Connor Street.”

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