If one issue starkly illustrates the disjoint between provincial and local government, it is the intersection at the R102 and the entrance to Margate CBD.
The glide off that provided access to vehicles from Marine Drive was severely damaged during the storms in April this year, and is closed to traffic.
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It is my understanding that stakeholders have been pressurising the provincial Department of Transport to undertake reinstatement and repairs since the damage occurred, without much success.
Traffic
With the December holiday season upon us, the local business sector had foreseen a nightmarish situation with the increased traffic volumes this brings.
It is my understanding that repeated and frantic requests from stakeholders to the local municipality have gone unanswered.
In defence of the local municipality, the road involved falls under a provincial competency, and all they could do was to attempt to exert pressure on the powers that be.
Forum
In desperation, a local forum was formed to mobilise funding from businesses to cover the cost of the repair, if the Department of Transport gave the go-ahead.
My closing observation is that storm damage to infrastructure in rural and hinterland areas is still by all accounts largely unattended to.
While urgent permission was being sought to action this, we were informed that work on the repairs by province had commenced, and would hopefully be complete before the start of the season.
What this issue has highlighted to me is the following:
Firstly, given that tourism is one of the major economic pillars of the district, the urgency of the repairs should have been self-evident to the provincial Department of Transport – pressure from the local municipality should not have been needed.
Secondly, the use of ‘emergency procurement’ as provided for under the Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA) would have facilitated rapid action by province (if in fact procurement was the cause of the delays experienced).
Thirdly, the ability of local government to influence provincial departments is rather limited.
Finally, the reservoir of goodwill and commitment from the local business sector to improving the economic conditions of the district is still available, and should be put to better use than just crisis management.
Despair
Without the benefit of strong private sector involvement as was the case in Margate, I despair for these communities ever getting the attention they require and deserve.
After matriculating, Vijay Naidoo studied Economics in the UK. Upon his return, he joined the family construction business as MD for 10 years.
He subsequently joined his sister in their furniture manufacturing business as director for quality assurance and operations. He was responsible for all quality aspects of their products, and led the project to the business achieving an ISO 9000 quality accreditation. As an export focused business, this was important for our international competitiveness.
Mr Naidoo has an abiding interest in quality management and productivity improvement, particularly in manufacturing.
More recently, he has focused a lot of his time on giving back to the community by way of mentorship of small businesses and sitting on the executive of the South Coast Chamber of Commerce. He also sits on the Board of the Ugu South Coast Development Agency.
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