EXECUTIVE Mayor Zanoxolo Wayile has established a Heritage Task Team to ensure the protection of Nelson Mandela Bay’s heritage, including the restoration, renovation and refurbishment of those buildings which have deteriorated due to neglect by respective owners.

The move brings closer to reality the promise made by the mayor that the deteriorating heritage buildings and social infrastructure throughout Nelson Mandela Bay will be salvaged urgently.

The high level multi-party Heritage Task Team will report directly to the mayor and comprises Deputy Executive Mayor, Councillor Nancy Sihlwayi, who is the convenor of the team, Mayoral Committee Members Melvin Manentsa (Infrastructure, Engineering, Electricity & Energy), Anne-Marie Van Jaarsveld (Economic Development, Tourism and Agriculture) and Arnold Scholtz (Budget and Treasury), DA councillors Terry Herbst and Jeremy Davis, Cllr Mongameli Bobani of the United Democratic Movement and Pule Lonake of the Pan Africanist Congress. The Office of the Municipal Manager and the Legal Services Office will provide administrative support to the team.

The mandate of the Heritage Task Team was to look at all areas of Nelson Mandela Bay.

"The team has to look at deteriorating buildings, not just in the Port Elizabeth city centre, but throughout the entire Bay, including Uitenhage, Despatch, our townships and the Northern Areas, in order to ensure the heritage, and therefore, the dignity, pride and history of our city is preserved," said Wayile.

The mayor also expects recommendations from the team and stressed the urgency of the task at hand at a meeting with all members of the team. "I have told the team that we expect a report with concrete recommendations within two weeks."

"In addition to inspecting buildings throughout Nelson Mandela Bay, the team will expeditiously consider the report which has been in Council for a long time and the legal opinion that advises on intervention alternatives so as to determine the appropriate course of action. We do not want any further delays in addressing this matter. We have to act decisively now, and we thus await the recommendations of the team, so that we fulfil our objectives in this regard," added Wayile.

The mayor has already engaged the Chief Executive Officer of the National Heritage Council, Advocate Sonwabile Mangcotywa, to discuss preliminary arrangements for speedy intervention in restoring heritage buildings and affected social infrastructure.

Member of the newly established Heritage Task Team, Councillor Terry Herbst said: "I have the greatest respect for Mayor Wayile for moving very quickly to find a solution on this project. He has done (a lot) in two months to get this project moving. I’m delighted to be a member of the Task Team and I look forward to working with my colleagues on this extremely important project which will benefit the city immensely".

Source: Nelson Mandela Bay