Promise date: 30 November 2021
Due date: 1 March 2022
Source: Statement
Promise outcome: Broken
One of the few promises former Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Eugene Johnson made before her term was cut short, was that the metro would get 2 300 energy-efficient streetlights.
Johnson made the commitment in a November 2021 statement about her plans for the coalition government’s first hundred days in office.
She was elected on 22 November 2021. Her hundredth day as mayor was therefore on 1 March 2022.
Mamela Ndamase, a municipal spokesperson, says 200 energy-efficient (LED) streetlights were installed between November 2021 and March 2022. This is 9% of what was promised.
(By September 2022, when Johnson lost the mayorship, the number had risen to 1 400 or 61% of the promised number of streetlights, according to the municipality.)
Asked why the promise was not fulfilled, Ndamase said: “There were delays in the approval of the budget, which then led to delays in the procurement and delivery of the streetlights.”
Verdict
We rate this promise as broken because only 9% of the target was achieved by the promise due date.
Read more about budget delays in Nelson Mandela Bay here and here.
The former mayor’s spokesperson, Tango Lamani, referred our enquiry to the municipality.
– Track My Mayor
Track My Mayor is a promise tracker aimed at increasing accountability at local government level. It was established with support from Code for Africa’s