Mossel Bay municipality is a success story, but more attention needs to be paid to the poor

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The harbour town of Mossel Bay on the Garden Route in the Western Cape, governed by the Democratic Alliance, is renowned for its wide beaches, picturesque guest houses and hotels – endless restaurants and entertainment offer sumptuous holidays and lure multimillion Rand investments. 

“Mossel Bay has world-class services,” according to acting mayor Dirk Kotzé. 

But scratch the surface, and cracks in the local municipality are exposed. “People don’t see how poor Mossel Bay actually is. They don’t look behind the curtain,” says Karin Lombaard, who runs the Street Angels Soup Kitchen. 

Creating a sales pitch for the municipality is not a difficult task. According to the Good Governance Africa annual reports, the town boasts several accolades, including the best performing municipality in 2019 and 2020 and the most financially sustainable municipality in South Africa in 2018 and 2020. 

In 2016, Mossel Bay also ranked at the top for being the greenest municipality.

Where property rates and services are the major income for the municipality, they can add to their success that their budget grew in recent years. 

Mossel Bay, Western Cape. (David Harrison/M&G)

An important contributor to the municipality’s financial stability, says Kotzé, is its strictness in terms of debt collection, credit management and indigent policy. 

The town has a 99% payment rate from its residents that decreased by only 1% during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“We try to keep as many of the people who cannot afford service rates registered so that we receive our governmental grant for them,” says Kotzé. 

Currently, 6 843 people are subsidised by the government. 

In its 2021-22 budget for major projects, the municipality’s financial chairperson, Mark Furness, outlines that for this financial year, a total of R2.1-million has been allocated to economic development. The town is also drawing investors thanks to its many prospects. 

Mossel Bay’s water reservoirs, desalination and greywater plant can provide up to 72 megalitres of water a day, of which 21 megalitres is currently used. A contract for a R19-million new reservoir has been signed, while another R15-million pipeline will cater for Mossel Bay residents and the influx of visitors over holidays, during which the population more than doubles. 

A tourist route is being developed to attract more visitors.

Kotzé looks forward to the town becoming energy resilient as it is one of six municipalities in the Western Cape to receive provincial assistance to go off the national grid. “We are looking at generating our own electricity, getting our own licences and we are busy constructing a R16-million power line,” he says.  

For travellers using the provincial Louis Fourie Road, a three-year upgrade project worth R200-million will ensure a quicker route to destinations. 

Although the number of people needing help increases, so does the number of those who are able to pay their municipal rates. 

But not all Mossel Bay residents benefit from the town’s economic growth. Like many places in the provinces and country, the favoured tourist destination has seen an increase in the number of residents living on the streets because of Covid-19 lockdowns. 

Kotzé acknowledges the visible division. 

“It is, at this stage [difficult to see how all residents benefit], because it is part of a long-term plan. Infrastructure will obviously be developed,” he said, referring to a plan to include investment distribution to all areas. This includes new roads, better infrastructure, sewerage works, and waterworks. 

Acting mayor of Mossel Bay Dirk Kotzé.

Although Mossel Bay is “not that reliant on national funding,” he adds “the municipality’s income is severely under pressure due to the national fiscus”.

Soup kitchens serving children and older people are a daily occurrence in impoverished areas. There are about 300 nonprofit organisations in the area, according to Lombaard. 

“We are imploring our municipality and bigger financial institutions to please come and look at what we are doing. We do it for our community, not for ourselves.”

Lombaard, in conjunction with the Mossel Bay Community Soup Drive, is gathering funds and supplies for their annual Christmas Street Bash where they hope to give 1 000 children gift bags. So far, their biggest support for the event came from a Johannesburg family. 

William Sam, of the Mossel Bay Community Soup Drive, says they don’t receive funds from the local municipality. Their applications to receive assistance are turned down and when they contact people they know in the municipality they are told the budget is exhausted “and that they cannot help”. 

“Certain NPOs [nonprofit organisations] have received funds from the municipality for years. And they stick to those. When a new NPO asks for help you are unsuccessful in getting any help,” says Lombaard. The Mossel Bay Community Soup Drive was established in 2019. 

The municipality said that in 2020 a total of 15 NPOs applied for funding, of which 12 were successful. 

According to Sam, who lives in the struggling neighbourhood of High Park, their soup drive, which serves 600 people weekly, is made possible by residents. 

One such person, Milton Fielies, who “ploughs back into the community”, believes there is a major gap between those on the ground floor and those at the top. 

“Municipal managers and ward councillors must engage more with the NPOs, and work with the people who work on the ground. There is a gap, and the municipality must come down, and give our work recognition,” says Fielies. 

Sam adds: “To be honest, the municipality makes it really difficult for the NPOs to survive.”

Milton Fielies and William Sam

He refers to social upliftment projects that received R15 000 from the Garden Route district municipality after being turned down by the local municipality for a project that helped 50 matric students obtain driver’s licences. 

He says that in previous years during their annual Christmas street bash, the local municipality assisted in cordoning off roads and sent law enforcement officers to keep the children safe while crossing the street. 

“This year, the very same application is sent to them, but they want safety officers, a medical team to be present, a safety certificate for the stage and they ask an additional R370 to close the road,” says Sam.

“They make it so difficult for local NPOs who don’t receive any funding to serve their own communities. We have the greatest respect for our town officials and when there is a large event we make sure they receive a platform to speak to the community,” says Sam. 

Lombaard and Sam highlight problems such as teenage pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, gangs, and unemployment, which they say they can help fight with programmes they have in mind — but they need to be backed by the local government. 

“The local government does have programmes, but they appoint one NPO that covers the whole province,” says Lombaard.

Kotzé says the local municipality is limited by the Municipal Finance Management Act in that it is prohibited from spending money on safety and social services. 

“I don’t want to say we live in a failed state but it sometimes feels like it. We’ve got competent guys who want to do their work but don’t have the means in terms of enough vehicles and proper police stations and so forth … the exact same argument can be used for social services, which, in terms of the legislation you’re not allowed to spend your own money on. But you have to create a safe environment, and obviously create a conducive environment,” says Kotze. 

 “That is why we try to be innovative. We’ve got these partnerships in terms of your board committee who receives funding and can decide what they want to do with it.”

One such partnership is when the board committee decided to join hands with local Neighbourhood Watch groups four years ago. The partnership resulted in what is being developed as a joint operation centre. 

Arthur Riordan, vice-chair of the Downtown Neighbourhood Watch and chair of the community policing forum, says the centralised operation centre would include the police, neighbourhood watch groups, the seven farm watches, security companies, fire department and local law enforcement. 

The municipal board boosted the joint operation centre with R7-million. It is hoped the centre will be ready by the end of this year. 

“We have very little crime in formal areas,” says Riordan. 

For Lindie Edwards, secretary of the Downtown Neighbourhood Watch, there cannot be growth, economical development, or social development when residents do not enjoy safety. Edwards has welcomed the operation centre, which will be a central hub for  all complaints. 

Two projects in the greater Mossel Bay area are set to address the major economic gap over the long term —  the social regeneration policy and the integrated housing development programme. 

The social regeneration policy intends to “beautify Mossel Bay especially in poorer communities, where spaces are created where moral values will be instilled again, where people will start feeling proud of where they stay”, says Kotzé. 

For parks and beautification, an amount of R657 700 has been allocated for the 2021-22 financial year. For the same year an amount exceeding R63-million is budgeted for integrated human settlements. 

Roughly 13 500 people are on the housing list in Mossel Bay. 

The local municipality plans to address the visible class divisions through its mixed integrated housing programme.  

Lindie Edwards, secretary of the Downtown Neighbourhood Watch. (David Harrison/M&G)

“When you’ve got one income class staying next to another lower income class, the people on the lowest level aspire to become better. So, you plan your town in such a way that people aspire to become as good as their neighbour,” says Kotzé, adding that one such example is the newly built governmental housing next to the Louis Fourie Road. 

The DA is confident that it will remain in power following the November 1 elections when 64 310 registered voters in Mossel Bay are expected to cast their votes. 

“We work tremendously hard. We’re very proud to say that we’ve got a good service delivery record in Mossel Bay,” says Kotzé.

The NPOs agree that service delivery is excellent in that “there is always someone available to assist”, but in the same breath hopes the local municipality will acknowledge the work they do, for their people.